Achieving Functionality and Multifunctionality through Bulk and Interfacial Structuring of Colloidal-Crystal-Templated Materials

Over the past 25 years, the field of colloidal crystal templating of inverse opal or three-dimensionally ordered macroporous (3DOM) structures has made tremendous progress. The degree of structural control over multiple length scales, understanding of mechanical properties, and complexity of systems in which 3DOM materials are a component have increased substantially. In addition, we are now seeing applications of 3DOM materials that make use of multiple features of their architecture at the same time. This Feature Article focuses on the different properties of 3DOM materials that provide functionality, including a relatively large surface area, the interconnectedness of the pores and the resulting good accessibility of the internal surface, the nanostructured features of the walls, the structural hierarchy and periodicity, well-defined surface roughness, and relative mechanical robustness at low density. It provides representative examples that illustrate the properties of interest related to applications including energy storage and conversion systems, sensors, catalysts, sorbents, photonics, actuators, and biomedical materials or devices.

Preparation of Cordierite Monolith Catalysts with the Coating of K-Modified Spinel MnCo2O4 Oxide and Their Catalytic Performances for Soot Combustion

Diesel engines are important for heavy-duty vehicles. However, particulate matter (PM) released from diesel exhaust should be eliminated. Nowadays, catalytic diesel particulate filters (CDPF) are recognized as a promising technology. In this work, a series of monolith Mn1−nKnCo2O4 catalysts were prepared by the simple citric acid method. The as-prepared catalysts displayed good catalytic performance for soot combustion and the Mn0.7K0.3Co2O4 catalyst gave the best catalytic performance among all the prepared samples. The T10 and Tm of Mn0.7K0.3Co2O4-HC catalyst for soot combustion are 310 and 439 °C, respectively. The physical and chemical properties of catalysts were characterized by means of SEM, XPS, H2-TPR, Raman and other techniques. The characterization results indicate that K substitution is favorable for the formation of oxygen vacancies, enhancing the mobility of active oxygen species, and improving the redox properties and so on. In-situ Raman results prove that the strength of Co-O bonds in the catalysts became weak during the reaction at high temperatures. In addition, SEM and ultrasonic test results show that the peeling rate of the coat-layer is less than 5%. The as-prepared catalysts can be taken as one kind of candidate catalyst for promising application in soot combustion because of its facile synthesis, low cost and high catalytic activity.

Experimental Evaluation on the Catalytic Activity of a Novel CeZrK/rGO Nanocomposite for Soot Oxidation in Catalyzed Diesel Particulate Filter

A nanostructured solid solution catalyst CeZrK/rGO for soot oxidation in catalyzed diesel particulate filter was synthesized using the dipping method. The reduced graphene oxide (rGO) was used as the catalyst carrier, and CeO2, ZrO2, and K2O were mixed with the molar ratio of 5:1:1, 5:2:2 and 5:3:3, which were referred to as Ce5Zr1K1/rGO, Ce5Zr2K2/rGO, and Ce5Zr3K3/rGO, respectively. The structure, morphology and catalytic activity of the CeZrK/rGO nanocomposites were thoroughly investigated and the results show that the CeZrK/rGO nanocomposites have nanoscale pore structure (36.1–36.9 nm), high-dispersion quality, large specific surface area (117.2–152.4 m2/g), small crystallite size (6.7–8.3 nm), abundant oxygen vacancies and superior redox capacity. The 50% soot conversion temperatures of Ce5Zr1K1/rGO, Ce5Zr2K2/rGO, and Ce5Zr3K3/rGO under tight contact condition were decreased to 352 °C, 339 °C and 358 °C respectively. The high catalytic activity of CeZrK/rGO nanocomposites can be ascribed to the following factors: the doping of Zr and K ions causes the nanocrystalline phase formation in CeZrK solid solutions, reduces the crystallite size, generates abundant oxygen vacancies and improves redox capacity; the rGO as a carrier provides a large specific surface area, thereby improving the contact between soot and catalyst.

Effects of Zr substitution on soot combustion over cubic fluorite-structured nanoceria: Soot-ceria contact and interfacial oxygen evolution

Ceria is widely used as a catalyst for soot combustion, but effects of Zr substitution on the reaction mechanism is ambiguous. The present work elucidates effects of Zr substitution on soot combustion over cubic fluorite-structured nanoceria. The nanostructured CeO₂, Ce_0.92Zr_0.08O₂, and Ce_0.84Zr_0.16O₂ composed of 5-6 nm crystallites display T_m-CO2 (the temperature at maximum CO₂ yield) at 383, 355, and 375°C under 10 vol.% O₂/N₂, respectively. The size of agglomerate decreases from 165.5 to 51.9-57.3 nm, which is beneficial for the soot-ceria contact. Moreover, Zr increases the amount of surface oxygen vacancies, generating more active oxygen (O₂^- and O^-) for soot oxidation. Thus, the activities of Ce_0.92Zr_0.08O₂ and Ce_0.84Zr_0.16O₂ in soot combustion are better than that of CeO₂. Although oxygen vacancies promote the migration of lattice O^2-, the enriched surface Zr also inhibits the mobility of lattice O^2-. Therefore, the T_m-CO2 of Ce_0.84Zr_0.16O₂ is higher than that of Ce_0.92Zr_0.08O₂. Based on reaction kinetic study, soot in direct contact with ceria preferentially decomposes with low activation energy, while the oxidation of isolated soot occurs through diffusion with high activation energy. The obtained findings provide new understanding on the soot combustion over nanoceria.

Removal of gaseous pollutants by using 3DOM-based catalysts: A review

Catalytic oxidation is a promising technique to control the emission of gaseous pollutants. Three-dimensionally ordered macroporous (3DOM)-based catalysts have aroused widespread attention because of their high porosity, large surface area and pore volume, superb ability of mass transfer. Therefore, they have been widely used in gaseous pollutants control field, such as soot and methane catalytic combustion, VOCs catalytic oxidation, photocatalytic CO₂ reduction and so on. In this review, the recent studies about the preparation and applications of 3DOM catalysts are summarized. At the same time, the advantages and mechanism of the 3DOM catalysts used in gaseous pollutants control are introduced in depth. Finally, the perspective and future direction of 3DOM-based catalysts for gaseous pollutants control are proposed.

Hierarchical macroparticles of ceria with tube-like shape – synthesis and properties

The hierarchical organization of CeO2 nanoparticles into tube-like macroparticles has a great influence on the properties of the material.

Cerium-zirconium mixed oxide nanostructures for diesel soot oxidation: synthesis and effect of structure

Nanostructured materials have been used in several branches of science and technology. Particulate matter is one of the major air pollution concerns. In this work, nanorods and nanoparticles of Ce_0.8Zr_0.2O₂ (CZ) mixed oxides were prepared by different routes, and the use of an organic template was evaluated in diesel soot oxidation. The catalysts were characterized by several techniques including structural analysis (XRD, TEM, N₂ adsorption–desorption) and activity (TPR/MS, TPO/MS). A fast TPR/MS method is proposed to calculate hydrogen consumption that can be correlated to the oxygen storage capacity (OSC). It was demonstrated that CZ-nanorods with twice the amount of template in the syntheses (CZ-NRs-2X) were very active for soot oxidation with T_50% at 351 °C, and CO₂ and H₂O were the only oxidation products from Printex®-U (Evonik). This catalyst, reported for the first time, was subjected to up to three cycles and it showed fair activity, proving that this morphology is one of the best mixed oxides of CZ for oxidation.

Nanorods and nanoparticles of Ce_0.8Zr_0.2O₂ (CZ) mixed oxides were prepared by different routes and showed good activity for diesel soot oxidation.

Function of various levels of hierarchical organization of porous Ce0.9REE0.1O1.95 mixed oxides in catalytic activity

Each level of hierarchical structure of the star-like Ce_0.9REE_0.1O_1.95 mixed oxides has its own functionality and is susceptible to modification.

Reactive Fe-O-Ce Sites in Ceria Catalysts for Soot Oxidation

This study investigates the role of oxygen vacancy on Fe-doped CeO2 catalyst activity for soot oxidation. The oxygen vacancy was assessed through Ce3+ content. The Fe content was varied between 0 and 30% for two catalyst preparation methods, co-precipitation (CP) and solution combustion synthesis (SCS). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy indicates that ceria exists as both Ce4+ and Ce3+, while iron is present only as Fe3+. The catalyst’s activity was evaluated by ignition (T10) and combustion (T50) temperatures using thermogravimetric analysis. Optimum Fe contents yielding the highest activity were found to be 10% and 5% for CP and SCS catalysts, respectively. The surface area and morphology showed a moderate effect on catalyst activity, because catalytic soot oxidation involves solid–solid contact. More importantly, regardless of the fabrication method, it was found that Ce3+ content, which is closely related to oxygen vacancies, plays the most important role in affecting the catalyst activity.

Large-Pore Mesoporous CeO2 -ZrO2 Solid Solutions with In-Pore Confined Pt Nanoparticles for Enhanced CO Oxidation

Active and stable catalysts are highly desired for converting harmful substances (e.g., CO, NO_x ) in exhaust gases of vehicles into safe gases at low exhaust temperatures. Here, a solvent evaporation-induced co-assembly process is employed to design ordered mesoporous Ce_x Zr_{1- x} O₂ (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) solid solutions by using high-molecular-weight poly(ethylene oxide)-block-polystyrene as the template. The obtained mesoporous Ce_x Zr_{1- x} O₂ possesses high surface area (60-100 m² g^-1 ) and large pore size (12-15 nm), enabling its great capacity in stably immobilizing Pt nanoparticles (4.0 nm) without blocking pore channels. The obtained mesoporous Pt/Ce_0.8 Zr_0.2 O₂ catalyst exhibits superior CO oxidation activity with a very low T₁₀₀ value of 130 °C (temperature of 100% CO conversion) and excellent stability due to the rich lattice oxygen vacancies in the Ce_0.8 Zr_0.2 O₂ framework. The simulated catalytic evaluations of CO oxidation combined with various characterizations reveal that the intrinsic high surface oxygen mobility and well-interconnected pore structure of the mesoporous Pt/Ce_0.8 Zr_0.2 O₂ catalyst are responsible for the remarkable catalytic efficiency. Additionally, compared with mesoporous Pt/Ce_x Zr_{1- x} O₂ -s with small pore size (3.8 nm), ordered mesoporous Pt/Ce_x Zr_{1- x} O₂ not only facilitates the mass diffusion of reactants and products, but also provides abundant anchoring sites for Pt nanoparticles and numerous exposed catalytically active interfaces for efficient heterogeneous catalysis.

Highly dispersed Pd on macroporous SmMn2O5 mullite for low temperature oxidation of CO and C3H8

The catalytic behavior of a palladium catalyst supported on macroporous SmMn2O5 mullite (Pd/SMO-EG&M) for CO and C3H8 oxidation was measured under lean-burn conditions. Different analytical techniques including XRD, Raman, BET, CO chemisorption, SEM, FTEM, XPS, TPD, TPR and CO + O2 pulse were undertaken to evaluate its physical and chemical properties. It was concluded that the crystal structure, morphology and specific surface area (SSA) of SmMn2O5 remained unchanged after Pd addition. The Pd/SMO-EG&M exhibited a low complete transformation temperature for CO (105 °C) and C3H8 (350 °C) oxidation. Such remarkable oxidation activity was attributed to high Pd dispersion (38.4%), which improved the reducibility and mobility of oxygen species, as revealed by TPR and TPD measurements. The high activity of oxygen species for Pd/SMO-EG&M above 250 °C accelerated the oxidation capacity as well. In a word, our study indicates that the macroporous Pd-mullite catalyst has potential applications in exhaust purification for gasoline vehicle.

Carboxyl-modified colloidal crystal templates for the synthesis of three-dimensionally ordered macroporous SMMN2O5 mullite and its application in NOx-assisted soot combustion

Schematic illustration of NO_x-assisted soot combustion.

Ordered micro/macro porous K-OMS-2/SiO2 nanocatalysts: Facile synthesis, low cost and high catalytic activity for diesel soot combustion

A series of novel oxide catalysts, which contain three-dimensionally ordered macroporous (3DOM) and microporous structure, were firstly designed and successfully synthesized by simple method. In the as-prepared catalysts, 3DOM SiO2 is used as support and microporous K-OMS-2 oxide nanoparticles are supported on the wall of SiO2. 3DOM K-OMS-2/SiO2 oxide catalysts were firstly used in soot particle oxidation reaction and they show very high catalytic activities. The high activities of K-OMS-2/SiO2 oxide catalysts can be assigned to three possible reasons: macroporous effect of 3DOM structure for improving contact between soot and catalyst, microporous effect of K-OMS-2 for adsorption of small gas molecules and interaction of K and Mn for activation of gas molecules. The catalytic activities of catalysts are comparable to or even higher than noble metal catalyst in the medium and high temperature range. For example, the T50 of K-OMS-2/SiO2-50, 328 °C, is much lower than those of Pt/Al2O3 and 3DOM Au/LaFeO3, 464 and 356 °C,respectively. Moreover, catalysts exhibited high catalytic stability. It is attributed to that the K+ ions are introduced into the microporous structure of OMS-2 and stabilized in the catalytic reaction. Meanwhile, the K+ ions play an important role in templating and stabilizing the tunneled framework of OMS-2.

Macroporous SmMn2O5 mullite for NOx-assisted soot combustion

A series of mullite SmMn₂O₅ oxides were prepared by citric acid (CA), hydrothermal (HT) and co-precipitation (CP) and combustion of ethylene glycol and methanol solutions (EG&M) methods, and tested for NO_x-assisted soot combustion.

Catalysts of 3D ordered macroporous ZrO2-supported core–shell Pt@CeO2−x nanoparticles: effect of the optimized Pt–CeO2 interface on improving the catalytic activity and stability of soot oxidation

The catalytic performance of 3D-OM Pt_1.0@CeO_2−x/ZrO₂-1 is better than that of 3D-OM Pt_1.0/ZrO₂.

Soot Combustion over Nanostructured Ceria with Different Morphologies

In this study, nano-structure ceria with three different morphologies (nanorod, nanoparticle and flake) have been prepared by hydrothermal and solvothermal methods. The ceria samples were deeply characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, H₂-TPR, XPS and in-situ DRIFTS, and tested for soot combustion in absence/presence NO atmospheres under loose and tight contact conditions. The prepared ceria samples exhibit excellent catalytic activities, especially, the CeO₂ with nanorod (Ce-R) shows the best catalytic activity, for which the peak temperature of soot combustion (T_m) is about 500 and 368 °C in loose and tight contact conditions, respectively. The catalytic activity for Ce-R is higher than that of the reported CeO₂ catalysts and reaches a level that of precious metals. The characterization results reveal that the maximal amounts of adsorbed oxygen species on the surface of the nanostructure Ce-R catalyst should be the crucial role to decide the catalytic soot performance. High BET surface area may also be a positive effect on soot oxidation activity under loose contact conditions.

Crossed ferric oxide nanosheets supported cobalt oxide on 3-dimensional macroporous Ni foam substrate used for diesel soot elimination under self-capture contact mode

Crossed Fe2O3 nanosheets supported cobalt oxide nanoparticles on three-dimensionally macroporous nickel foam substrate (xCo/Fe-NF) was designed and successfully prepared through a facile hydrothermal and impregnation route. These catalysts showed high catalytic soot combustion activities under self-capture contact mode. The three-dimensional macroporous structures of Ni foam and the crossed Fe2O3 nanosheets constituted macroporous voids can greatly increase the contact efficiency between soot particulates and catalysts. The interaction between Co and Fe facilitated the activation of the Fe-O bond and increased the amounts of active oxygen species, thus improving the redox property of the catalysts. The 0.6Co/Fe-NF catalyst exhibited the highest turnover frequency (TOF) for soot combustion, which is in good accordance with the largest amount of active oxygen species. Based upon the catalytic performance and multiple characterization results, two reaction pathways for soot oxidation are identified, namely, the direct oxidation by the activated oxygen species via oxygen vacancies and the NOx-aided soot oxidation.

KNO3 supported on three-dimensionally ordered macroporous La0.8Ce0.2Mn1−xFexO3 for soot removal

The KNO₃ supported on 3DOM La_0.8Ce_0.2Mn_1−xFe_xO₃ perovskites have been prepared and used for soot removal. The presence of potassium nitrate can accelerate the soot combustion at both low and high temperature. The catalysts exhibit high activities for soot combustion.

Facile synthesis of three-dimensionally ordered macroporous silicon-doped La0.8K0.2CoO3 perovskite catalysts for soot combustion

Three-dimensionally ordered macroporous (3DOM) silicon-doped La_0.8K_0.2CoO₃ perovskite catalysts were successfully prepared by a colloidal crystal templating method. The catalysts showed a well-ordered macroporous structure and exhibited high activity for soot removal.

Ceria-Zirconia Particles Wrapped in a 2D Carbon Envelope: Improved Low-Temperature Oxygen Transfer and Oxidation Activity

Engineering the interface between different components of heterogeneous catalysts at nanometer level can radically alter their performances. This is particularly true for ceria-based catalysts where the interactions are critical for obtaining materials with enhanced properties. Here we show that mechanical contact achieved by high-energy milling of CeO2-ZrO2 powders and carbon soot results in the formation of a core of oxide particles wrapped in a thin carbon envelope. This 2D nanoscale carbon arrangement greatly increases the number and quality of contact points between the oxide and carbon. Consequently, the temperatures of activation and transfer of the oxygen in ceria are shifted to exceptionally low temperatures and the soot combustion rate is boosted. The study confirms the importance of the redox behavior of ceria-zirconia particles in the mechanism of soot oxidation and shows that the organization of contact points at the nanoscale can significantly modify the reactivity resulting in unexpected properties and functionalities.

Gravity-Driven Multiple Collision-Enhanced Catalytic Soot Combustion over a Space-Open Array Catalyst Consisting of Ultrathin Ceria Nanobelts

More than 122 times higher contact efficiency between soot and catalysts is achieved over the as-prepared CeO(2) nanobelt array catalysts as compared with the powder nanoparticle catalyst. A novel gravity-driven multiple collision-enhanced soot combustion mechanism is proposed for the first time.

Three-dimensionally ordered macroporous spinel-type MCr2O4 (M = Co, Ni, Zn, Mn) catalysts with highly enhanced catalytic performance for soot combustion

MCr₂O₄ catalysts with three-dimensional ordered macroporous structures displayed superior catalytic activity for soot combustion to their bulk counterparts.

Highly efficient cerium dioxide nanocube-based catalysts for low temperature diesel soot oxidation: the cooperative effect of cerium- and cobalt-oxides

Co₃O₄ promoted CeO₂ nanocubes exhibit a remarkable catalytic activity for soot oxidation, attributed to the superior reducible nature of CeO₂ and the preferential exposure of CeO₂ (100) and Co₃O₄ (110) facets.