Litchi-peel-like hierarchical hollow copper-ceria microspheres: aerosol-assisted synthesis and high activity and stability for catalytic CO oxidation.

Copper-ceria is considered to be a promising system used in exhaust treatment due to its low cost and decent catalytic activity. Herein, we have developed novel litchi-peel-like hollow copper-ceria microspheres with varying Cu contents via an aerosol-assisted route. It is found that the dextrin in the spray solution plays a significant role as a sacrificial template and leads to the formation of this hierarchical hollow structure, in which higher surface area and active CuOx species with higher dispersion result in better catalytic activity compared to the usual hollow samples. The litchi-peel-like sample with 20% Cu exhibits the best reactivity for CO oxidation, namely 50% conversion at 83 °C and 100% conversion at 120 °C. Importantly, this novel copper-ceria sample displays outstanding catalytic stability involving cycle stability, long-term stability and thermal stability, which is attributed to step-stabilized strong interaction between CuOx species and CeO2. The superior catalytic activity and stability beyond commercial 5 wt% Pt/Al2O3 provides it with the potential to be a substitute for Pt-based catalysts in practical applications.