Oxidation of CO/H
2 mixed gas on Co
3O
4 catalysts calcined at different temperatures and spinel oxide catalysts such as ZnCo
2O
4, CoAl
2O
4 and Fe
2CoO
4 was conducted to clarify the relation between the activity of CO/H
2 oxidation and surface cobalt species of the catalyst. The rate of the oxidation on Co
3O
4 was evaluated based on first order reaction with respect to the partial pressure of CO and H
2. The rate constant of the H
2 oxidation per surface area was identical regardless of the calcination temperature of Co
3O
4. On the other hand, the Co
3O
4c atalysts which were calcined at lower temperatures showed higher activities and selectivities for CO oxidation. Among the substituted spinel oxides containing cobalt, ZnCo
2O
4 showed the highest activity and selectivity for CO oxidation. CoAl
2O
4 and Fe
2CoO
4 showed lower activity for CO/H
2 oxidation compared with Co
3O
4. The XPS results showed that the predominant species on Co
3O
4 surface were divalent cobalt ion in tetrahedral coordination and trivalent ion in octahedral coordination. The predominant ones on ZnCo
2O
4, CoAl
2O
4 and Fe
2CoO
4 are trivalent ion in octahedral coordination, divalent ion in tetrahedral coordination and divalent ion in octahedral coordination, respectively. It was concluded that the main factor determining the activity and selectivity for CO oxidation in the presence of H
2 was the trivalent cobalt ion in octahedral coordination on the surface of the catalyst.
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