Various embodiments include a method of ascertaining the oxygen load of a catalytic converter disposed in an exhaust tract of an internal combustion engine with an exhaust gas sensor is disposed downstream of the catalytic converter comprising: generating a signal using the exhaust gas sensor indicating a proportion of nitrogen oxide and/or ammonia in the exhaust gas; and ascertaining the oxygen load of the catalytic converter at least partly on the basis of the signal from the exhaust gas sensor.

A three-way catalyst article, and its use in an exhaust system for internal combustion engines, is disclosed. The catalyst article for treating exhaust gas comprising: a substrate comprising an inlet end, an outlet end with an axial length L; an inlet catalyst layer beginning at the inlet end and extending for less than the axial length L, wherein the inlet catalyst layer comprises an inlet palladium component; an outlet catalyst layer beginning at the outlet end and extending for less than the axial length L, wherein the outlet catalyst layer comprises an outlet rhodium component; and wherein the outlet catalyst layer overlaps with the inlet catalyst layer.

The present disclosure provides an exhaust gas purification catalyst having an improved Rh activation, which comprises a substrate and a catalyst coat layer formed on the substrate, the catalyst coat layer having a two-layer structure, wherein the catalyst coat layer includes an upstream portion on an upstream side and a downstream portion on a downstream side in an exhaust gas flow direction, and a part or all of the upstream portion is formed on a part of the downstream portion, wherein the upstream portion contains Rh fine particles and Pt, wherein the Rh fine particles have an average particle size measured by a transmission electron microscope observation of 1.0 nm or more to 2.0 nm or less, and a standard deviation σ of the particle size of 0.8 nm or less, and wherein the downstream portion contains Rh.

An object of the present invention is to provide an exhaust gas purification catalyst having improved exhaust gas purifying performance (in particular, improved NOx purifying performance) at low to medium temperature, and, in order to achieve the object, the present invention provides an exhaust gas purification catalyst (10A) including: a substrate (20); and a catalyst layer (30 or 40) formed on the substrate (20), wherein the catalyst layer (30 or 40) contains rhodium element, phosphorus element and a rare earth element other than cerium element, wherein a ratio of a mass of the phosphorus element contained in the catalyst layer (30 or 40) to the mass of the rhodium element contained in the catalyst layer (30 or 40) is from 1 to 10, and wherein a ratio of a mass of the rare earth element other than cerium element in terms of an oxide thereof contained in the catalyst layer (30 or 40) to the mass of the rhodium element contained in the catalyst layer (30 or 40) is from 1 to 5.

An oxygen storage material including a ceria-zirconia based composite oxide containing a composite oxide of ceria and zirconia, wherein the ceria-zirconia based composite oxide comprises at least one rare-earth element selected from the group consisting of lanthanum, yttrium, and neodymium, and an amount of the rare-earth element(s) contained in total is 1 to 10% by atom in terms of element relative to a total amount of cerium and zirconium in the ceria-zirconia based composite oxide, 60 to 85% by atom of the entire amount of the rare-earth element(s) is contained in a near-surface upper-layer region extending from a surface of each primary particle of the ceria-zirconia based composite oxide to a depth of 50 nm in the primary particle, and 15 to 40% by atom of the entire amount of the rare-earth element(s) is contained in a near-surface lower-layer region extending from a depth of 50 nm to a depth of 100 nm in the primary particle, a content ratio of cerium and zirconium in the ceria-zirconia based composite oxide is in a range of 40:60 to 60:40 in terms of an atomic ratio ([Ce]:[Zr]), and the ceria-zirconia based composite oxide has an intensity ratio {I(14/29) value} between a diffraction line at 2θ=14.5° and a diffraction line at 2θ=29° which satisfies the following condition:
I(14/29) value≥0.032,
where the intensity ratio {I(14/29) value} is determined from an X-ray diffraction pattern using CuKα obtained by an X-ray diffraction measurement conducted after heating in air under a temperature condition of 1100° C. for 5 hours.

The present disclosure provides an exhaust gas purification catalyst improved in OSC performance while maintaining an exhaust gas purification performance, which comprises a substrate and at least one catalyst layer formed on the substrate, wherein an uppermost catalyst layer contains a catalyst metal, a first OSC material having a pyrochlore structure, and a second OSC material having a higher oxygen storage/release rate than the first OSC material, wherein the uppermost catalyst layer consists of an upstream catalyst layer and a downstream catalyst layer, and wherein a proportion of a mass of the second OSC material based on a total mass of the first OSC material and the second OSC material is in a specific range in each of the upstream catalyst layer and the downstream catalyst layer.

An object of the present invention is to provide an exhaust gas purification catalyst composition and an exhaust gas purification catalyst, each of which includes a pyrochlore-type CeO.sub.2—ZrO.sub.2-based complex oxide having an improved oxygen storage capacity (particularly, an improved oxygen storage capacity after being exposed to a high temperature environment), and, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides an exhaust gas purification catalyst composition and an exhaust gas purification catalyst, each of which contains a pyrochlore-type CeO.sub.2—ZrO.sub.2-based complex oxide that contains Y and Mg and thus exhibits an excellent oxygen storage capacity (particularly, an excellent oxygen storage capacity after being exposed to a high temperature environment).

The exhaust purification device of an internal combustion engine comprises a catalyst 20 arranged in an exhaust passage and able to store oxygen; and an air-fuel ratio control device configured to control an air-fuel ratio of inflowing exhaust gas flowing into the catalyst. The air-fuel ratio control device is configured to perform a distribution forming control controlling the air-fuel ratio of the inflowing exhaust gas so that in the catalyst, a first region with an oxygen storage amount of equal to or greater than a predetermined value and a second region with an oxygen storage amount of less than the predetermined value are alternately formed along an axial direction of the catalyst. The total number of the first region and the second region formed by the distribution forming control is equal to or greater than three.

An exhaust gas purification catalyst device including a substrate and an SCR catalyst layer on the substrate, the substrate containing catalyst precious metal particles directly supported on the substrate, the catalyst precious metal particles containing Pt, and the catalyst precious metal particles having an average particle diameter of 30 to 120 nm inclusive.

A three-way catalyst article, and its use in an exhaust system for internal combustion engines, is disclosed. The catalyst article for treating exhaust gas comprising: a substrate comprising an inlet end and an outlet end with an axial length L; and a first catalytic region on the substrate; wherein the first catalytic region comprises a first PGM component and a first alumina, wherein the first alumina is doped with a first dopant of at least 5 wt. %, and wherein the first dopant is selected from the group consisting of Zr, Ta, Mo, W, Ti, Nb, and a combination thereof.