Ce3+-enriched spherical porous ceria with an enhanced oxygen storage capacity

Porous ceria was obtained using a unique solvothermal reaction in acetonitrile, applying high temperature and pressure. The resulting material comprised homogeneous and monodisperse spheres and exhibited an extremely large surface area of 152 m2 g−1. From catalytic performance evaluation by vapor- and liquid-phase reactions, the synthesized porous ceria showed superior and different reaction activity compared with commercial CeO2. To examine the origin of the reaction activity of the present porous ceria, synchrotron hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES) measurements were carried out. The systematic study of HAXPES measurements revealed that the obtained porous ceria with the present solvothermal method contained a very high concentration of Ce3+. Moreover, O2-pulse adsorption analyses demonstrated a significant oxygen adsorption capacity exceeding 268 μmol-O g−1 at 400 °C owing to its high contents of Ce3+ species.