Surface characterization and properties of ordered arrays of CeO2 nanoparticles embedded in thin layers of SiO2.
We demonstrated the surface composite character down to the nanometer scale of SiO(2)-CeO(2) composite high surface area materials, prepared using 5 nm colloidal CeO(2) nanoparticle building blocks. These materials are made of a homogeneous distribution of CeO(2) nanoparticles in thin layers of SiO(2), arranged in a hexagonal symmetry as shown by small-angle X-ray scattering and transmission electron microscopy. Since the preparation route of these composite materials was selected in order to produce SiO(2) wall thickness in the range of the CeO(2) nanoparticle diameter, these materials display surface nanorugosity as shown by inverse chromatography. Accessibility through the porous volume to the functional CeO(2) nanoparticle surfaces was evidenced through an organic acid chemisorption technique allowing quantitative determination of CeO(2) surface ratio. This surface composite nanostructure down to the nanometer scale does not affect the fundamental properties of the functional CeO(2) nanodomains, such as their oxygen storage capacity, but modifies the acid-base properties of the CeO(2) surface nanodomains as evidenced by Fourier transform IR technique. These arrays of accessible CeO(2) nanoparticles displaying high surface area and high thermal stability, along with the possibility of tuning their acid base properties, will exhibit potentialities for catalysis, sensors, etc.