Facile synthesis of a novel CeO2/glass bead catalyst with enhanced catalytic oxidation performance

Nano-ceria with a cubic lattice was successfully coated onto porous glass bead supports for the first time, especially without the use of NH3·H2O. Scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller methods were employed to characterize the prepared novel catalysts. Accordingly, the role of the glass bead support was discussed in detail. Most importantly, the AO7 degradation rate in the presence of H2O2 reached 85% using the prepared catalyst but just 32.9% for pure ceria under the same conditions. This represents an approximately 2.6-fold improvement, which is an excellent enhancement of catalytic performance in a slurry reactor. The apparent reaction constant was calculated as 0.876 L mmol−1 min−1. In addition, the AO7 degradation rate could reach as high as 99% within 50 s even with a high initial AO7 concentration of 150 ppm in a fixed bed reactor. Notably, the supported catalyst also achieves the goal of easy recovery from the reactor liquid and exhibits superior catalytic stability.