The control system of an internal combustion engine performs normal operation control including lean control for making the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas flowing into the exhaust purification catalyst a lean air-fuel ratio, and rich control for making the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas flowing into the exhaust purification catalyst a rich air-fuel ratio. The normal operation control includes judgment reference decreasing control decreasing the judgment reference storage amount in the lean control when during the time period of performing the lean control, the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas flowing out from the exhaust purification catalyst becomes the lean judged air-fuel ratio or more. The control system judges that the exhaust purification catalyst is abnormal when the judgment reference storage amount becomes less than a deterioration judgment value.

The internal combustion engine comprises an exhaust purification catalyst able to store oxygen, and a downstream side air-fuel ratio sensor arranged at a downstream side of the exhaust purification catalyst in a direction of exhaust flow. The control system performs feedback control of an amount of fuel fed to a combustion chamber of the internal combustion engine so that an air-fuel ratio of exhaust gas flowing into the exhaust purification catalyst becomes a target air-fuel ratio and performs learning control to correct a parameter relating to the feedback control based on an air-fuel ratio of exhaust gas detected by the downstream side air-fuel ratio sensor. The target air-fuel ratio is alternately switched between a rich set air-fuel ratio and a lean set air-fuel ratio leaner. When a condition for learning acceleration, which is satisfied when it is necessary to accelerate correction of the parameter by the learning control, is satisfied, a rich degree of the rich set air-fuel ratio is increased. Therefore, there is provided an internal combustion engine able to suitably change the speed of updating the learning value.

An internal combustion engine comprises: an exhaust purification catalyst; a downstream side air-fuel ratio sensor which is arranged at a downstream side of the exhaust purification catalyst; and an air-fuel ratio control system which performs feedback control so that the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas flowing into the exhaust purification catalyst becomes a target air-fuel ratio. The air-fuel ratio control system switches the target air-fuel ratio to a lean set air-fuel ratio when the air-fuel ratio detected by the downstream side air-fuel ratio sensor becomes a rich judged air-fuel ratio or less; changes the target air-fuel ratio to a slight lean set air-fuel ratio after switching the target air-fuel ratio to the lean set air-fuel ratio and before an estimated value of the oxygen storage amount of the exhaust purification catalyst becomes a switching reference storage amount or more; and switches the target air-fuel ratio to a rich air-fuel ratio when the estimated value of the oxygen storage amount of the exhaust purification catalyst becomes the switching reference storage amount or more.

An exhaust gas purification apparatus includes a three-way catalyst. The three-way catalyst includes a downstream catalyst layer and an upstream catalyst layer. The downstream catalyst layer is to be provided in an exhaust pipe. The downstream catalyst layer contains a noble metal material containing at least one of Pd, Rh, or Pt, and an OSC material containing at least ceria. The upstream catalyst layer is to be provided in the exhaust pipe closer to an engine than the downstream catalyst layer is. The upstream catalyst layer contains the noble metal material and the OSC material. The upstream catalyst layer contains the ceria at a content less than a content of the ceria in the downstream catalyst layer.

Methods and systems are provided for emissions control of a vehicle. In one example, an emissions treatment device includes a porous substrate and a catalytic washcoat disposed thereon, the catalytic washcoat having nickel and no other metal. The porous substrate may be configured to filter particulate matter (PM) exiting the vehicle and the catalytic washcoat may be configured to oxidize at least a portion of the PM. The nickel in the catalytic washcoat may provide additional oxygen storage capacity and increased tolerance to sulfur poisoning of catalytic activity of the catalytic washcoat, further promoting PM oxidation. Moreover, because the catalytic washcoat may increase PM oxidation during passive regeneration events, a total number of active regeneration events may be decreased and fuel economy may be maintained.

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.

A Ce—Zr composite oxide contains cerium and zirconium, wherein an uneven distribution ratio of cerium atoms is 1.80 or less. A method for producing a Ce—Zr composite oxide includes an acid treatment step of bringing at least one selected from the group consisting of sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and hydrochloric acid, in an amount of 4 to 28 parts by mass with respect to 100 parts by mass of the raw material composite oxide, into contact with the surface of a raw material composite oxide containing cerium and zirconium, and a calcination step of calcining the treated composite oxide obtained in the acid treatment step at 400 to 1200° C. for 5 to 300 minutes.

The exhaust purification system 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 catalyst has a precious metal and the precious metal has a property of a vapor pressure at a predetermined temperature becoming lower when oxidized. If a temperature of the catalyst is equal to or greater than a threshold temperature or if predicting a rise in temperature of the catalyst, the air-fuel ratio control device is configured to make the air-fuel ratio of the inflowing exhaust gas leaner than a stoichiometric air-fuel ratio so that an oxygen storage amount of the catalyst becomes equal to or greater than an upper side reference amount.

Provided is an exhaust gas purification catalyst having an improved catalyst performance while securing an OSC in an air-fuel ratio (A/F) rich atmosphere where HC poisoning is likely to occur. The present disclosure relates to an exhaust gas purification catalyst including a substrate and a catalyst coating layer coated on the substrate. The catalyst coating layer has an upstream coat layer formed from an end portion in an upstream side with respect to an exhaust gas flow direction in the exhaust gas purification catalyst and a downstream coat layer formed from an end portion in a downstream side with respect to the exhaust gas flow direction in the exhaust gas purification catalyst. The downstream coat layer includes Rh as a catalytic metal, alumina-ceria-zirconia complex oxide, and alkaline earth metal.

The present disclosure provides an exhaust gas purification catalyst having improved durability, 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 downstream portion contains Rh fine particles, and 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.