The preparation of high surface area CeO2-ZrO2 mixed oxides by a surfactant-assisted approach

The study investigates the preparation of high surface area, three-way catalysts (TWC)-like, ceria-zirconia mixed oxide. It is shown that under basic conditions cationic surfactants effectively incorporate into hydrous oxides of cerium and zirconium. The presence of cerium inhibits the action of alkyl-trimethyl-ammonium salts as true templating agents and there is no formation of a regular pore structure, The elimination of surfactants upon calcination gives rise to the formation of high surface area, fluorite-structured CeO2-ZrO2 solid solution characterized by a fairly good compositional homogeneity, Surface areas in excess of 230 m(2)/g were obtained after calcination at 723 K, which drop to ca. 40 m(2)/g following treatment at 1173 K.