Morphology-dependent surface chemistry and catalysis of CeO2 nanocrystals

Surface chemistry and catalysis over oxide nanocrystals with well-defined morphologies are emerging as a hot topic, and the relevant progress on CeO2 nanocrystals is critically reviewed. CeO2 nanocrystals expose morphology-dependent crystal planes on their surfaces, and CeO2 nanocrystal and metal/CeO2 nanocrystal catalysts exhibit morphology-dependent surface chemistry and catalysis. A comprehensive analysis of the published literature nicely correlates the surface chemistry and catalysis of CeO2 nanocrystal and metal/CeO2 nanocrystal catalysts with the surface composition/structure and oxygen vacancy structure of exposed CeO2 crystal planes. A concept of morphology engineering of oxide nanocrystals not only for the optimization of the catalytic performance but also for the fundamental understanding of the structure-activity relation and catalytic reaction mechanism is discussed.