Catalytic enhancement of small sizes of CeO2 additives on Ir/Al2O3 for toluene oxidation

[Display omitted] •The particles size of CeO2 additives was tuned to below 5 nm in Ir/Ce(A)/Al2O3 catalyst.•Highly dispersion of IrO2 and more Ir-O-Ce species formed in Ir/Ce(A)/Al2O3 catalyst.•Ir0 was active species at low temperature and Irδ+ was active species at higher temperature. Catalytic combustion of VOCs is one of the most promising technologies for removal of VOCs. Developing new and highly performance catalyst is very important for the application of this technology. Here, we report the fabrication of catalysts Ir/Ce/γ-Al2O3 for complete oxidation of toluene, via confining the particles size of CeO2 additives. The catalysts are analyzed by XRD, H2-TPR, O2-TPD, TEM, HRTEM, XPS, Raman and in-situ DRIFTS. The catalyst Ir/Ce(A)/Al2O3 contains small CeO2 nanoparticles (