Publication
Title
High resolution mapping of surface reduction in ceria nanoparticles
Author
Abstract
Surface reduction of ceria nano octahedra with predominant {111} and {100} type surfaces is studied using a combination of aberration-corrected Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and spatially resolved electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) at high energy resolution and atomic spatial resolution. The valency of cerium ions at the surface of the nanoparticles is mapped using the fine structure of the Ce M4,5 edge as a fingerprint. The valency of the surface cerium ions is found to change from 4+ to 3+ owing to oxygen deficiency (vacancies) close to the surface. The thickness of this Ce3+ shell is measured using atomic-resolution Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM)-EELS mapping over a {111} surface (the predominant facet for this ceria morphology), {111} type surface island steps and {100} terminating planes. For the {111} facets and for {111} surface islands, the reduction shell is found to extend over a single fully reduced surface plane and 12 underlying mixed valency planes. For the {100} facets the reduction shell extends over a larger area of 56 oxygen vacancy-rich planes. This finding provides a plausible explanation for the higher catalytic activity of the {100} surface facets in ceria.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Nanoscale / Royal Society of Chemistry [London] - Cambridge, 2009, currens
Publication
Cambridge : 2011
ISSN
2040-3364 [print]
2040-3372 [online]
DOI
10.1039/C1NR10510H
Volume/pages
3 :8 (2011) , p. 3385-3390
ISI
000293521700057
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
Counting Atoms in Nanomaterials (COUNTATOMS).
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 26.07.2011
Last edited 15.11.2022
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