Effect of Ce:Ti ratio and cerium salts on the properties of mesoporous Ti-Ce oxides and their photocatalytic activity

Nadrah, Peter (author), Knap, Mateja (author), Vikram Sagar, Tatiparthi (author), Sever Škapin, Andrijana (author), Lavrenčič Štangar, Urška (author)

To investigate the influence of different CeO$_2$ precursors and Ce:Ti ratios, we have synthesised 8 mesoporous Ti-Ce oxides via the evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) method with Ce:Ti ratios between 0.2 and 20 mol%. The materials exhibited type IV isotherms and a specific surface area of 140–180 m$^2$⋅g$^{−1}$ with pore diameters in range of 3–20 nm. The crystalline phases of materials comprised predominantly anatase with a significant decrease in overall crystalline content with increasing Ce:Ti ratio. Materials with higher Ce:Ti ratio showed an increased light absorption in the visible region. Although crystalline CeO$_2$ was not detected, the presence of Ce(IV) was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. For the photocatalytic experiments, we compared these materials with the TiO$_2$-CeO$_2$ composites of our previously published syntheses to yield 16 samples synthesized via three synthesis approaches: (1) concurrent synthesis from titanium alkoxide and cerium salts in one pot, (2) synthesis of TiO$_2$ in the presence of previously-synthesised CeO$_2$ and (3) physical mixing of separately-synthesised TiO$_2$ and CeO$_2$. Samples produced by physically mixing the separately-synthesised TiO$_2$ and CeO$_2$ showed the best photocatalytic activity towards gaseous isopropanol degradation, while the samples with TiO$_2$ synthesised in the presence of CeO$_2$ showed the best photocatalytic stability.

• Language: English
• Keywords: Ti-Ce oxides, evaporation-induced self-assembly, isopropanol oxidation, photocatalysis, mesoporous material
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FKKT - Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: 7 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 449, art. 115204
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-166707
• UDC: 54
• ISSN on article: 1873-4308
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cattod.2025.115204
• COBISS.SI-ID: 223125507
• Publication date in RUL: 22.01.2025

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Catalysis today
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 1873-4308
• COBISS.SI-ID: 170235139

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: Ti-Ce oksidi, samourejanje z odparevanjem topila, oksidacija izopropanola, mezoporozni material