Preferential oxidation of CO (PROX-CO) from hydrogen has been carried out over various
oxides and perovskite catalysts namely CeO2, CuLaO2eCeO2, La2CuO4. Further, effect of
loading of a small quantity of Pt in catalysts 0.1 wt% Pt/CeO2, 0.1 wt% Pt/La2CuO4, 0.1 wt%
Pt/CuLaO2eCeO2 was examined with respect to its activity for PROX-CO. In order to
improve the surface area of La2CuO4 a chitosan complex method was used for synthesis.
The catalysts were characterized using XRD, SEM and BET-SA techniques. Chitosan
complex method results in pervoskite with pure phase, porous structure and higher
surface area of 16.3 m2/g compared to that of 3.8 m2/g obtained by co-precipitation
synthesis method. La2CuO4 exhibited a considerable activity for CO oxidation with
conversion of 91.7%. Whereas, 0.1 wt% Pt/CuLaO2eCeO2 catalyst exhibited CO conversion
of 94.1% and selectivity of 87.1% at reaction temperature of 320 �C. The improved CO/H2
selectivity may be attributed to the promotion of water gas shift reaction at the interface of
Pt-metal oxide besides the relatively higher oxidation activity of the metal oxides. The
catalysts reported in this study with relatively higher CO conversion and selectivity with
lower value of l ¼ 0.3 exhibit potential for effective cleanup of hydrogen gas to remove CO
for fuel cell applications