CeO2-ZrO2-Al2O3 ternary oxides were successfully prepared by a green route of supercritical anti-solvent precipitation with supercritical CO2 as anti-solvent and methanol as solvent. The structures and oxygen storage capacities of these ternary oxides were characterized by XRD, Raman spectra and oxygen storage capacity measurements. It was found that Al3+ and Zr4+ inserted into CeO2 lattice, forming CeO2-ZrO2-Al2O3 solid solution. The concentration of aluminium isopropoxide in the solution affected the concentration of oxygen vacancy and the distortion of oxygen sublattice which were responsible for the oxygen storage capacity. The rapidest oxygen uptake/release rate and maximum total oxygen storage capacity (122.0 mmolO2/molCeO2) were obtained with the aluminitun isopropoxide concentration at 0.2 wt.% in the solution.
Hollow CuO-CeO2-ZrO2nano-particles were prepared with supercritical anti-solvent apparatus by using methanol as sol-vent and supercritical carbon dioxide as anti-solvent. Two key factors (i.e., pressure and temperature) were investigated to explore the effects of catalyst structure and physic-chemical properties (i.e., morphology, reducing property, oxygen storage capacity and specific surface area). The resulting materials were characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD), high resolution transmission electron micros-copy (HRTEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET),hydrogen temperature programmed reduction (H2-TPR) and oxygen storage capac-ity (OSC) measurement, respectively. The experimental results showed that lower temperatures promoted production of hollow struc-ture nano-particulates. The particle morphology also changed significantly, i.e. the solid construction was first transferred to hollow structure then back to solid construction. The optimal conditions for obtaining hollow nano-particles were determined at 45 °C, 18.0–24.0 MPa.
The nano-crystalline Cu-Ce-Zr-O composite oxides were successfully prepared by the supercritical anti-solvent (SAS) process. The physicochemical properties and catalytic performances were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, H2 temperature-programmed reduction (H2 -TPR), oxygen storage capacity (OSC) measurement and catalytic activity evaluation. It was found that Cu2+ ions incorporated into CeO2 -ZrO2 lattice to form Cu-Ce-Zr-O solid solution associated with the formation of oxygen vacancies. The Cu-Ce-Zr-O catalysts prepared via the SAS process with the Cu content 2.63 mol.% showed the highest OSC index of 636.9 μmol/g. Compared with the samples prepared by impregnation method, Cu doping using SAS process could improve the dispersion of Cu2+ in the composite oxide, enhance the interaction between Cu2+ and CeO2-ZrO2 , improve the reducibility of catalyst, and thus improve the OSC performance and increase the catalytic activity for CO oxidation at low temperature.