Traditional nanostructured design of cerium oxide catalysts typically focuses on their shape, size, and elemental composition. We report a different approach to enhance the catalytic activity of cerium oxide nanostructures through engineering high density of oxygen vacancy defects in these catalysts without dopants. The defect engineering was accomplished by a low pressure thermal activation process that exploits the nanosize effect of decreased oxygen storage capacity in nanostructured cerium oxides.
The decrease in the activity of a catalyst after use is a persistent challenge in the chemical industry. We report that palladium‐decorated ceria (Pd/CeO2−x, in which 0≤x<0.5) nanorod catalysts demonstrate regenerative ability for carbon monoxide oxidation at room temperature. Pd/CeO2−x catalysts with 75 % decreased catalytic activity can be regenerated and restored almost 100 % of their original catalytic activity by exposing them to ambient conditions for 24 h. X‐ray spectroscopy studies of the atomic structures and oxidation states of palladium in the catalyst found that the formation of disordered palladium oxide is partly accountable for its observed regenerative catalytic property.
The catalytic activity of platinum (Pt) nanoparticles (NPs) towards methanol electrooxidation in alkaline media was demonstrated to be dependent on their interactions with their nanostructured ceria support. Ceria nanorods (NRs) with diameters of 5 to 10 nm and lengths of 15 to 50 nm as well as ceria NPs with diameters of 2 to 6 nm were applied as supports for similarly sized Pt NPs with diameters of 2 to 5 nm.Cyclic voltammetry data showed that Pt NPs supported on ceria NPs exhibited a 2-to-5-fold higher catalytic current density versus ceria NRs. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic data indicated that Pt NPs deposited onto ceria NRs were disproportionally composed of oxidized species (Pt
A two-step synthetic process is reported to fabricate porous ceria membranes by anodization of cerium metal foils with subsequent calcination. "Ribbon-like" structures were found to form the backbones of these porous frameworks. The hydrophobic nature of these membranes was revealed by water contact angle measurements.
Multi-functional anode catalysts composed of platinum (Pt) nanoparticles electrodeposited on 2 wt% Pt decorated ceria (Pt:CeO2−x) nanorod supports were shown to enhance the alkaline electrocatalytic oxidation of short chain alcohols.
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