Crucial role of titanium dioxide support in soot oxidation catalysis of manganese doped ceriaElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c7cy01029j

The influence of an anatase-TiO 2 support on the diesel soot oxidation catalytic activity of manganese doped ceria is investigated. The soot conversion light-off temperature is significantly lowered with the application of anatase-TiO 2 as the support in comparison to the unsupported and γ-Al 2 O 3 supported CeO 2 -MnO x catalysts. Additionally, considerable enhancement in bulk and surface defects is observed for CeO 2 -MnO x /TiO 2 , which is attributed to the promotional role of the CeO 2 /TiO 2 interface in the formation and stabilization of defect sites. The temperature programmed desorption of oxygen (O 2 -TPD) study of CeO 2 -MnO x /TiO 2 indicates a sharp increase in oxygen desorption after a temperature of 500 K. In good correlation, the diesel soot conversion substantially increases after 550 K, but below this temperature the TiO 2 supported catalyst exhibits comparable activity to that of the γ-Al 2 O 3 supported catalyst. Increased oxygen mobility at elevated temperatures might play a key role in the performance of the TiO 2 supported catalyst. Moreover, its structural stability and appreciable catalytic activity were retained even after high temperature annealing treatment. The influence of an anatase-TiO 2 support on the diesel soot oxidation catalytic activity of manganese doped ceria is investigated.