Reducing carbon dioxide emissions is one of the largest energy and environmental challenges currently faced globally. To achieve carbon neutrality, the development of new technologies and simultaneous improvement of conventional technologies are required. Catalysis, which determines the success or failure and efficiency of the process, is at the center of addressing these problems. Innovative advancements in catalysis have been accomplished through the extensive research on catalytic materials. Oxygen storage materials with oxygen storage capacity (OSC) have been widely applied in supports and active cocatalysts for energy and environmental catalytic applications. This review provides knowledge on the extended applications (reforming, water-gas shift reaction, and partial oxidation of methane (POM) for high-value-added chemicals, including hydrogen production, deoxygenation of fatty acids for second-generation biofuel production, selective catalytic reduction of NO_x with NH₃, hydrocarbon (HCs) oxidation for emission control, CO oxidation for vehicle exhaust control and purification of gaseous product fuel, and soot oxidation for the removal of motor-type pollutants) of these materials, which are mainly used as three-way catalysts (TWC) in automotive catalysis, to the carbon-neutral field. In particular, this study focuses on the physico-chemical properties that are closely synergistic with OSC, such as reducibility, dispersion, surface acid/base properties, and physical properties, such as surface structure or morphology. Graphical abstract

CeO₂, ZrO₂, and CeO₂–ZrO₂ supported on MgO-promoted Ni catalysts are developed and applied to the reforming of methane with carbon dioxide. The catalysts are prepared by the one-step co-precipitation/aging method and characterized through various techniques such as X-ray diffraction, Brunauer–Emmet–Teller measurements, pore distribution, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy, extended X-ray absorption fine structure analysis, H₂-temperature programmed reduction, H₂-chemisorption, Raman analysis, thermogravimetry analysis, and pulse H₂–CO₂ reactions. Ni–MgO–CeO₂ shows the smallest Ni particle size and the particle size decreases with increasing ZrO₂ content. Ni–MgO–Ce_0.6Zr_0.4O₂ exhibits the largest oxygen storage capacity among the prepared catalysts. The size of the Ni particles and the oxygen storage capacity are found to be the primary and secondary key factors that influence the catalytic performance, respectively. The turnover frequency is dependent on the size of the Ni particles, but the catalytic performance is affected by the number of Ni active sites, which is estimated from the reduction degree and Ni particle size. Overall, the Ni–MgO–Ce_0.8Zr_0.2O₂ catalyst shows the best performance owing to the high reduction degree and small Ni particle size.