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Updated: Sep 23, 2025

Synthesis and Performance Characterizations of Transition Metal Single Atom Catalyst for Electrochemical CO2 Reduction
Published on: April 10, 2018
Investigation of defect-rich CeO2 catalysts for super low-temperature catalytic oxidation and durable styrene removal
Ying Zhang1, Liming Zhang1, Jichang Lu1
1Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, 650500, PR China; The Innovation Team for Volatile Organic Compounds Pollutants Control and Resource Utilization of Yunnan Province/The Higher Educational Key Laboratory for Odorous Volatile Organic Compounds Pollutants Control of Yunnan Province, Kunming, 650500, PR China.
Abstract:
Spherical cerium dioxide (CeO2-S) nanoparticles were successfully prepared using a solvothermal method, and their performances in catalytic oxidation reactions were studied. The CeO2-S catalyst showed superior low-temperature catalytic activity for styrene removal (T90 = 118 °C, GHSV = 18,000 h-1) compared with commercial CeO2. The characterization results showed that there were numerous oxygen defects in CeO2-S that were key to its catalytic performance at low temperatures, high redox properties, and high adsorption capacity for the reaction gases (O2 and styrene). Moreover, the catalytic performance of CeO2-S was highly stable (132 h), and the particles were reusable. FTIR and in-situ DRIFTS results showed that the type of intermediates formed during the oxidation of styrene determined the CeO2 catalytic stability, and the main intermediates were bidentate carbonate species that accumulated on the surface of deactivated CeO2-S and were not thermally stable. Moreover, the soft carbon that also deposited on CeO2-S during the reaction was easily decomposed at higher temperatures. The role of the oxygen vacancies on the CeO2-S catalyst was further revealed by correlating the concentration of oxygen vacancies and the accumulation of coke on the catalyst surface.
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