Comparative synthesis and physicochemical characterization of CeO2 nanopowder via redox reaction, precipitation and sol–gel methods used for total oxidation of toluene

Abstract

ABSTRACTNanostructured CeO2 was successfully prepared using three different methods of redox reaction, precipitation and sol–gel methods. Their catalytic activities were studied toward total catalytic oxidation of toluene. The nanostructured CeO2 physicochemical properties were assessed by XRD, FESEM, BET, TPR‐H2, TPD‐CO2 and FTIR analyses. The XRD patterns showed that the synthesized catalysts had small crystalite size between 8.7 and 15.8 nm. The FESEM images reflected that the synthesized samples had nanoparticles less than 100 nm. BET analysis revealed that the synthesized CeO2 had large surface area in the order of redox reaction > precipitation > sol–gel. TPR patterns indicated that nano CeO2 had high reducibility. TPD‐CO2 showed the presence of weak and medium basic sites. Among synthesized samples, cerium oxide prepared from redox reaction was the most active in total oxidation of toluene. This feature was due to the smallest particle size, largest BET surface area and high reducibility of the nanocatalyst.The synthesized nano CeO2 had high activity and stability, which presents it as a suitable catalyst in catalytic applications. © 2011 Curtin University of Technology and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.