View article

Engineering the shape and size of catalyst particles and the interface between different components of heterogeneous catalysts at the nanometer level can radically alter their performances. This is particularly true with CeO₂-based catalysts, where the precise control of surface atomic arrangements can modify the reactivity of Ce⁴⁺/Ce³⁺ ions, changing the oxygen release/uptake characteristics of ceria, which, in turn, strongly affects catalytic performance in several reactions like CO, soot, and VOC oxidation, WGS, hydrogenation, acid–base reactions, and so on. Despite the fact that many of these catalysts are polycrystalline with rather ill-defined morphologies, experimental and theoretical studies on well-defined nanocrystals have clearly established that the exposure of specific facets can increase/decrease surface oxygen reactivity and metal–support interaction (for supported metal nanoparticles), consequently …