Preparation and characterization of three-dimensional ordered macroporous rare earth oxide—CeO2

Three-dimensional ordered macroporous (3DOM) rare earth oxide—CeO2 was prepared by colloid crystal template. Cerous nitrate in the presence of citric acid was used as precursor and polystyrene (PS) beads as template. The effect and mechanism between citric acid and cerous nitrate was studied. The introduction of citric acid as chelator could overcome the disadvantage from the low melting point of single cerous nitrate and played an important role to the formation of 3DOM structure. The resulted CeO2 had three-dimensional ordered structure, uniform pore distribution, and interconnected macropores through small holes, which makes CeO2 probably become a new-type catalyst or catalyst support in future.