# Anticoking Effect of Eu3+ Doping of the Ru/Ceria Catalyst in the MSR Reaction for Hydrogen Generation

## TL;DR

Adding Eu3+ to a Ru/ceria catalyst improves its stability during hydrogen production by preventing carbon buildup.

## Contribution

The study identifies three mechanisms by which Eu3+ doping inhibits coking in Ru/ceria catalysts during methane steam reforming.

## Key findings

- Eu3+ doping increases catalyst stability by reducing carbon deposition.
- Eu doping introduces strain in ceria lattice, aiding oxygen diffusion.
- Eu3+ → Eu2+ reduction provides an alternative pathway for oxygen supply.

## Abstract

The positive effect
of Eu3+ doping on the stability
of the Ru/ceria catalyst during the methane steam reforming (MSR)
reaction, which was used for H2 production, was observed.
The effect is attributed to a significant inhibition of coking-induced
deactivation of the catalyst by Eu doping, which we explain by three
hypotheses. The first one is an increase in basicity with Eu doping,
which inhibits carbon deposition on the working catalyst during the
MSR reaction. The second one is that Eu addition introduces strain
into the ceria lattice, which could facilitate oxygen diffusion and,
as a consequence, prevents catalyst’s coking. The third one
is related to the presence of an additional high-temperature pathway
for supplying lattice oxygen based on Eu3+ → Eu2+ reduction on the surface of the Eu-doped ceria support.