Synthesis of biomorphic hierarchical CeO2 microtube with enhanced catalytic activity
(1. School of Chemistry, Biology and Materials Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215009, China;
2. Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Environment Functional Materials, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215009, China)
2. Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Environment Functional Materials, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215009, China)
Abstract: A biomorphic CeO2 microtube with multiple-pore structure was fabricated by using the cotton as biotemplate, through cerium nitrate solution infiltration and thermal decomposition. Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM), N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms, temperature-programmed reduction (TPR) and CO oxidation were used to characterize the samples. The results indicated that the synthesized products were composed of crystallites with grain size about 9 nm and exhibited a fibrous morphology similar to the original template and possessed a specific surface area (BET) of 62.3 m2/g. Compared with the conventional CeO2 particles, the synthesized materials showed a superior catalytic activity for CO oxidation. For the synthesized fibrous CeO2, the CO conversion at 320 °C was above 90% and a 100% CO conversion was obtained at 410 °C.
Key words: synthesis; biotemplate; multiple-pore structure; ceria; catalytic performance