Cerium dioxide catalytic properties

A second example of the application of laser ablation was reported by Chmielowska et al. [260]. The authors carried out structural analysis of thin cerium dioxide films doped with copper, which were produced for applications as catalytic gas sensors. The thin films deposited on a silicon substrate had a nanocrystalline structure with a well-developed texture. The morphology, as well as the preferred orientation of the films, changed with the volume fraction of copper. The observed variations were found to affect the catalytic properties of the materials. 

Cerium oxide based catalysts have been widely studied during the last two decades. Main catalytic application was the elimination of automotive exhaust emissions (1,2). The catalytic properties of this oxide has often been related with the mobility of oxygen vacancies in the solid (3,4) and hence with its capacity to release stored oxygen under reducing conditions tests (5,6).Moreover, A.F. Ahlstrom and C.U.I. Odenbrand (7) reported the deactivation by sulphur dioxide of supported copper oxide during the oxidation of soot. 

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