Ag-assisted CeO2 catalyst for soot oxidation

In this work, the Ag loaded Ce-based catalyst was synthesized (by the sol?gel method) and its performance was studied by TG, H₂-TPR, XRD, SEM, TEM, BET and XPS. The results show that Ag nanoparticles be successfully loaded onto the CeO₂ surface and the relative content of Ag nanoparticles is about 10.22 wt.% close to the theoretical value (10%). XPS shows that Ag nanoparticles induce a great number of oxygen vacancies in the CeO₂ lattice through the electronic transfer, and H₂-TPR indicates that the Ag-assisted CeO₂ catalyst exhibits a better reduction performance and Ag nanoparticles can promote O^? transform into O^2?. The catalytic activity for soot oxidation was studied by TG under air atmosphere and the activity was found to be obviously enhanced when Ag nanoparticles be load on the surface of CeO₂ (T₁₀ = 386 °C, T₉₀ = 472.5 °C, T_m = 431 °C). The reaction mechanism was also presented and O₂^? species is regarded as the determinant factor for the catalytic activity.