Tailoring CO2 adsorption and activation properties of ceria nanocubes by coating with nanometre-thick yttria layers

Ceria (CeO2) is a ubiquitous component in catalysts for environmental protection processes, especially those devoted to CO2 valorisation. Aimed at preparing ceria-based nanomaterials with enhanced CO2 adsorption and activation properties, both the surface acid-base and redox features of ceria nanocubes were modulated by a novel, simple, wet chemistry synthetic strategy consisting of their coating with yttria (Y2O3) layers of variable thickness in the nanometre scale. The as-synthesised samples were characterised with special attention to their surface basicity and reducibility. Characterisation results revealed that the surface doping with yttria not only improved both the reducibility at low temperature and CO2 adsorption capacity of ceria nanocubes, but also introduced a variety of basic sites with different strength. Finally, the careful control of the yttria layer thickness allowed to modulate these effects and thereby the ability of nanostructured ceria to adsorb and activate the CO2 molecule.