Rare earth-doped copper-manganese mixed oxide catalysts were prepared by coprecipitation and mechanical mixing using copper sulfate, manganese sulfate, and rare-earth oxides REO （REO indicates La2O3, CeO2, Y2O3, or Pr6O11） as raw materials. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction （XRD）, temperature-programmed reduction （TPR）, temperature-programmed reduc-tion of oxidized surfaces （s-TPR）, and temperature-programmed desorption （TPD）. Catalytic activities were tested for a water-gas shift reaction. Doping rare earth oxides did not alter the crystal structure of the original copper-manganese mixed oxides but changed the interplanar spacing, adsorption performance and reaction performance. Doping with La2O3 enhanced the activity and stability of Cu-Mn mixed oxides because of high copper distribution and fine reduction. Doping with CeO2 and Y2O3 also decreased the reduc-tion temperatures of the samples to different degrees while improving the dispersion of Cu on the surface, thus, catalytic activity was better than that of undoped Cu-Mn sample. The Pr6O11-doped sample was difficult to reduce, the dispersion of surface coppers was lowered, resulting in poor activity.
