The great promise of ceria-supported gold clusters as catalysts of the future for important industrial processes, such as the water gas shift reaction, has prompted a flurry of activity aimed at understanding the molecular-level details of their operation. Much of this activity has focused on experimental and theoretical studies of the structure of perfect and defective ceria surfaces, with and...

David Andersson et al. report calculations revealing how doped oxides with cubic fluorite structures become effective ionic conductors. Cubic fluorite structures, such as ceria (CeO2), can become effective ionic conductors when doped with cations of lesser valence than the host cations. Doped ceria thus has potential as an electrolyte for environmentally friendly solid oxide fuel cells. Anderss...

The shape impact of nanostructured ceria on the dispersion Pd species was investigated by analyzing atomic configuration and bonding environment over spherical cubic particles, using STEM XPS. Amorphous particles about 2.0 nm, with a substantial amount tiny species, dispersed ceria, primarily due to enriched surface oxygen vacancies that bonded tightly. While faceted 2.9 nm located distinct int...

Well-defined ceria nanocubes covered by oleic acid with exposed {100} facets have been synthesized and exhibited exclusive selectivity for the oxidation of toluene to benzaldehydes in liquid phase by O(2).

Cerium oxide (ceria) plays an important and fascinating role in heterogeneous catalysis as illustrated by its versatile use a catalyst, catalyst support, or promotor various oxidation reduction reactions. Central to these reactions is the rich defect chemistry, facile redox capability, unusual acid-base properties of ceria. Understanding unique ceria essential build structure-catalysis relation...

Surface reduction of ceria nano octahedra with predominant {111} and {100} type surfaces is studied using a combination of aberration-corrected Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and spatially resolved electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) at high energy resolution and atomic spatial resolution. The valency of cerium ions at the surface of the nanoparticles is mapped using the fine struc...

The kinetics of CO2 reduction over nonstoichimetric ceria, CeO2-δ, a material of high potential for thermochemical conversion of sunlight to fuel, has been investigated for a wide range of nonstoichiometries (0.02 ≤ δ ≤ 0.25), temperatures (693 ≤ T ≤ 1273 K), and CO2 concentrations (0.005 ≤ pCO2 ≤ 0.4 atm). Samples were reduced thermally at 1773 K to probe low nonstoichiometries (δ < 0.05) and ...

The efficient electro-reduction of CO2 to chemical fuels and the electro-oxidation of hydrocarbons for generating electricity are critical toward a carbon-neutral energy cycle. The simplest reactions involving carbon species in solid-oxide fuel cells and electrolyzer cells are CO oxidation and CO2 reduction, respectively. In catalyzing these reactions, doped ceria exhibits a mixed valence of Ce...

ABSTRACT Infrared spectroscopy has been employed for a detailed characterization of ZrO2 and CeO2/ZrO2 supported nickel and copper/nickel catalysts to be utilized for methane decomposition. Adsorption of CO at 303 K was performed in order to determine the surface composition and accessible adsorption sites. Alloy formation occurred during reduction, as indicated by a red-shift of the vibrationa...