The synthesis of high surface area cerium oxide and cerium oxide/silica nanocomposites by the silica aquagel-confined co-precipitation technique

This paper describes the synthesis of high surface area cerium oxide and cerium oxide/sílica nanocomposites, by means of silica aquagel-confined co-precipitation (SACOP). The obtained cerium oxide structures have surface areas of up to 200 m2 g−1 and are made up of aggregates of nanosized particles (2–5 nm). By modifying certain specific synthetic parameters [the type of acid (HNO3 or HCl), the silica/acid ratio (Si/H+) and the cerium concentration (Ce/Si) in the synthesis suspension, the aquagel ageing time and the silica removal procedure] we were able to establish the optimum parameters for fabricating high surface area CeO2 and to shed light on the different mechanisms involved in the novel SACOP technique.