[Objective] This paper aims to improve the reactivity of oxygen carriers for hydrogen production by chemical looping. [Methods] The oxygen carriers modified by Ce were prepared by sol-gel method

and they were applied to hydrogen production by chemical looping process via water splitting. The effects of Ce addition on the physical and chemical properties of oxygen carriers and the hydrogen production performance by chemical looping were investigated. [Results] The results show that the change of Ce addition amount has obvious influence on the crystal phase composition of oxygen carrier

reduction temperature of H2 and hydrogen yield. When x≥0.06

the crystal phase of CeO2 begins to appear. With the increase of x

the three reduction peaks of H2 gradually move to the lower temperature range

which shows that Ce doping reduces the reduction reaction temperature and improves the activity of the oxygen carrier. With the increase of x

the hydrogen yield first increases and then decreases. When x=0.2

the maximum hydrogen yield is 260 mL/g. The hydrogen yield of NiCe_xFe2-xO4 decreases gradually

from 260 mL/g to 64 mL/g from the first cycle to the fifth cycle. After 5 cycles

the reduction peaks of oxygen carrier H2 move to the higher temperature region

obvious sintering is observed

and the crystal phase composition has not changed after 5 cycles. [Conclusion] Ce modification of NiFe_2O4 can obviously improve the reactivity of oxygen carriers

which provides a new idea for the preparation of oxygen carrier with high reactivity for hydrogen production during chemical looping process.