Characterization and surface reactivity analyses of ceria nanorod catalyst for methanol interaction

The reactivity of commercial ceria powder and as-synthesized one dimensional (1-D) ceria-nanorod (CeNR) for methanol oxidation has been studied at an atmospheric pressure in the present study. Experimentally, ceria nanomaterials are consisted with fluorite structure and confirmed using XRD patterns. The surface areas of BET N2 adsorption isotherms for commercial ceria powder and 1-D CeNR samples are 6 and 78 m2 g−1, respectively. The EXAFS spectra reveal that the 1-D CeNR species has a CeO bonding with a bond distance of 2.4 Å and a coordination number is 6.87. Higher oxygen vacancies and Ce3+ are formed for CeNR as compared with the ceria powder and confirmed with both XPS and Raman spectroscopies. Moreover, two major species as named formate and methoxy are contributing on ceria for methanol dissociation, whereas, formation of carbon dioxide is evident effectively for 1-D CeNR. The reactivity for methanol oxidation of the commercial ceria powder and 1-D CeNR has been also compared.

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► CeNR was about 20–40 nm in diameter and 200–300 nm in length identified by FE-SEM.
► Higher oxygen vacancies and Ce3+ are formed for CeNR.
► Surface areas of commercial ceria powder and 1-D CeNR samples are 6 and 78 m2 g−1, respectively.
► The CeO bond distance in CeNR was 2.4 Å with a coordination number of 6.87.
► CeNR prominently produces H2 from CH3OH decomposition and generates 200 W in a PEMFC.