Highly improved acetone oxidation performance over mesostructured CuxCe1−xO2 hollow nanospheres

Abstract

Hierarchical bimetal oxide solid solutions in hollow-interior nanospheres with mesoporous shells have versatile applications in environmental protection, but their synthesis still encounters great challenges. In this work, mesostructured Cu_xCe_1−xO₂ hollow nanospheres with porous shells and controllable Cu/Ce molar ratios were newly fabricated by a facile solvothermal strategy for the first time to catalyze acetone oxidation. The experimental results revealed that Cu_0.015Ce_0.985O₂ showed the optimal catalytic acetone oxidation performance, accomplishing 100% acetone conversion and 100% CO₂ selectivity at 210 °C under reaction conditions of 1000 ppm acetone, 20% O₂/N₂ and WHSV = 90 000 mL g_cat⁻¹ h⁻¹. The optimal catalytic acetone oxidation performance of Cu_0.015Ce_0.985O₂ can be mainly credited to the integrated factors of the unique architecture of hollow-interior nanospheres with mesoporous shells, increased numbers of defective sites and active oxygen species, and enhanced redox capacities. Impressively, Cu_0.015Ce_0.985O₂ also demonstrated strong water tolerance and good long-term stability owing to its highly stable crystal phase and robust morphological structure, showing great potential in cleaning volatile organic compounds for environmental protection.