The influence of precipitation temperature on the properties of ceria-zirconia solid solution composites

The ceria-zirconia composites (CZ) with a Ce/Zr mass ratio of 1/1 were synthesized by a back-titration method, in which the influence of precipitation temperature on the properties of ceria-zirconia precipitates was investigated. The resulting precipitation and mixed oxides at different precipitation temperatures were then characterized by a range of techniques, including textural properties, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), H2-temperature programmed reduction (H2-TPR) as well as oxygen storage capacity (OSC) measurement. The results revealed that ceria-zirconia composites were formed as solid solution and such structure is favored of thermostability and texture properties. In particular, the composite CZ-70 synthesized at 70 °C exhibited prominent thermostability with a surface area of 32 m2/g as well as a pore volume of 0.15 cc/g after aging treatment at 1000 °C for 5 h. And this was found to be associated with the wider pore size distribution which maybe owed to the formation of large crystal at the primary stage of precipitation. Additionally, the composite CZ-70 showed excellent reduction property and OSC benefiting from stable texture and structure.