Thermally induced sintering and redispersion of Au nanoparticles supported on Ce1-xEuxO2 nanocubes and their influence on catalytic CO oxidation

Abstract The effect of Eu doping of ceria nanocubes on the morphology, oxidation state of deposited Au particles and their activity in CO oxidation was studied. The decisive role of doping of ceria support with Eu in the sintering of deposited Au nanoparticles has been established and discussed for the first time. The redispersion of gold nanoparticles is responsible for the formation of small, ca. ~1 nm Au nanoclusters, and as a consequence the increase of the number of active sites participating in CO-oxidation reaction.