Au Nanoparticles Supported on Mn- or/and La-Doped CeO₂ Nanorods for One-Step Oxidative Esterification of Methacrolein and Methanol to Methyl Methacrylate

Mn- or/and La-doped CeO2 nanorods supporting Au catalysts were prepared using the hydrothermal method and deposition precipitation (DP) method and applied to the direct oxidative esterification of methacrolein (MAL) and methanol into methyl methacrylate (MMA). Various characterization techniques such as N-2-physical adsorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), H-2 temperature programmed reduction (TPR) and CO2 temperature programmed desorption (TPD) were utilized to analyze the structural properties, reducibility and basicity of Au catalysts. The catalyst with Mn doping only showed the best performance, and particularly the highest conversion, while the catalyst with Mn and La doping showed the highest selectivity.