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Remarkably promoted low-temperature reducibility and thermal stability of CeO2–ZrO2–La2O3–Nd2O3 by a urea-assisted low-temperature (90 °C) hydrothermal procedure

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Abstract

Conventional co-precipitation combined with a urea-assisted low-temperature (90 °C) hydrothermal procedure (CZU) and the same method without urea (CZ) were used to prepare material CeO2–ZrO2–La2O3–Nd2O3. X-ray diffraction, Raman, nitrogen adsorption–desorption, transmission electron microscope, hydrogen-temperature programmed reduction (H2-TPR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were employed to study the structural, textural, reduction behavior and surface elemental composition of the materials. The results reveal that, compared to CZ, CZU exhibits more outstanding structural property, higher thermal stability and higher low-temperature reducibility. The results also show that the stability of the reduction behavior is closely related to its surface chemical properties, especially the variation of the surface atomic ratio of Ce/Zr and the surface oxygen species. The possible mechanism of urea was also discussed in this study. In addition, with regard to corresponding Pd-only three-way catalysts, remarkably boosted catalytic performance of Pd/CZU is also obtained than that of Pd/CZ, and which suggests that CZU holds better prospective applications.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the National Hi-tech Research and Development Program of China (863, 2015AA034603) for their generous financial supports to our research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610064, Sichuan, China

    Yi Zhou, Jie Deng, Li Lan, Jianli Wang, Maochu Gong & Yaoqiang Chen

  2. Center of Engineering of Vehicular Exhaust Gases Abatement, Chengdu, 610064, Sichuan, China

    Yaoqiang Chen

  3. Center of Engineering of Environmental Catalytic Material, Chengdu, 610064, Sichuan, China

    Yaoqiang Chen

  4. Institute of New Energy and Low-Carbon Technology, Chengdu, China

    Shandong Yuan & Yaoqiang Chen

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  1. Yi Zhou
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  2. Jie Deng
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  3. Li Lan
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Correspondence to Jianli Wang or Yaoqiang Chen.

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Zhou, Y., Deng, J., Lan, L. et al. Remarkably promoted low-temperature reducibility and thermal stability of CeO2–ZrO2–La2O3–Nd2O3 by a urea-assisted low-temperature (90 °C) hydrothermal procedure. J Mater Sci 52, 5894–5907 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-017-0825-z

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