XPS quantification of oxygen vacancies in mesoporous and non-mesoporous CeO2: comment on an article by Thill et al., J. Mater. Chem. A, 2020, 8, 24752–24762

In the present Comment I emphasize that X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) studies of ceria-based materials require a detailed knowledge of the actual profile of Ce 3d spectra of CeO2 and Ce2O3 oxides and that great care should be devoted to experimental modalities with which such spectra are recorded. In particular, I propose that this also applies to the case of XPS analysis aimed to quantify the population of oxygen vacancies in mesoporous and non-mesoporous ceria.