Hollow Microporous Cerium Oxide Spheres Templated By Colloidal Silica

We present a simple, solution-based synthetic route to hollow cerium oxide spheres. Thin layers (similar to 12 nm) of cerium oxide are deposited onto similar to 200 nm silica colloids using cerium nitrate and the silica cores are subsequently removed to yield hollow spheres. The spheres are composed of similar to 4 nm ceria. nanocrystals. Nitrogen adsorption isotherms indicate that the spheres are microporous with pore sizes of approximately 10 angstrom. The spheres are thermally stable to collapse and ripening up to 700 degrees C and are active for the catalytic combustion of carbons. The hollow ceria spheres developed in this work are attractive as building blocks for multicomponent catalysts.