Cataluminescence and catalytic reactions of ethanol oxidation over nanosized Ce1−xZrxO2 (0 ⩽ x ⩽ 1) catalysts

Cataluminescence (CTL) and catalytic reactions of ethanol oxidation over nanosized (5–20 nm) Ce1−xZrxO2 (0 ⩽ x ⩽ 1) materials were studied at 170–300 °C. Characterization with XRD showed that the Ce1−xZrxO2 material was a CeO2-based solid solution in the cubic phase at x ⩽ 0.15; it became a phase mixture of the solid solution and tetragonal ZrO2 at 0.15 < x < 1. The materials that were rich in the solid solution phase (i.e., x = 0.05–0.25) showed very high CTL activity at 220 °C and thus can be considered as efficient low-temperature CTL sensors for ethanol. The CTL intensity of ethanol oxidation was closely related to the steady state activity of the Ce1−xZrxO2 catalysts for oxidative dehydrogenation of ethanol to form acetaldehyde.