One pot synthesis and characterization of ultra fine CeO2 and Cu/CeO2 nanoparticles. Application for low temperature CO oxidation.

Ultra fine cerium oxide and copper doped cerium oxide nanoparticles are prepared in a one-step reaction by thermal decomposition of Ce acetate in commercial oleylamine. The products are highly crystalline and were characterized by XRD, Raman spectroscopy, XPS, TEM and BET. The TEM images show that the CeO2 particles prepared are uniformly nanosized. The size of the nanoparticles can be controlled in the sub-10 nm range by the presence of other capping agent in the reaction mixture such as tri-octylphosphine oxide and oleic acid. The copper doped cerium oxide nanoparticles show high specific surface area (up to 299 m2/gr) and high catalytic activity for the low temperature CO oxidation even at low copper loading such as 9 at.%.