Abstract
Ceria-based materials possessing mesoporous structures afford higher
activity than the corresponding bulk materials in CO oxidation and other catalytic
applications, because of the wide pore channel and high surface area. The development
of a direct, template-free, and scalable technology for directing porosity inside ceriabased
materials is highly welcome. Herein, a family of mesoporous transition-metaldoped
ceria catalysts with specific surface areas up to 122 m2 g−1 is constructed by
mechanochemical grinding. No templates, additives, or solvents are needed in this
process, while the mechanochemistry-mediated restructuring and the decomposing of
the organic group led to plentiful mesopores. Interestingly, the copper species are
evenly dispersed in the ceria matrix at the atomic scale, as observed in high resolution
scanning transmission electron microscopy in high angle annular dark field. The
copper-doped ceria materials show good activity in the CO oxidation.
