Catalytic Soot Oxidation Activity of NiO-CeO 2 Catalysts Prepared by a Coprecipitation Method: Influence of the Preparation pH on the Catalytic Performance.

A series of NiO-CeO2 mixed oxide catalysts have been synthesized by a modified coprecipitation method at three different pH values (pH = 8, 9, and 10). The NiO-CeO2 mixed oxide samples were characterized by TGA, XRD, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), FTIR, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area, H-2 temperature-programmed reduction (H-2-TPR), and electron microscopy (high-angle annular dark-field transmission electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (HAADF-TEM/EDS)). The catalytic activities of the samples for soot oxidation were investigated under loose and tight contact conditions. The catalysts exhibited a high BET surface area with average crystal sizes that varied with the pH values. Electron microscopy results showed the formation of small crystallites (similar to 5 nm) of CeO2 supported on large plate-shaped particles of NiO (similar to 20 nm thick). XRD showed that a proportion of the Ni2+ was incorporated into the ceria network, and it appeared that the amount on Ni2+ that replaced Ce4+ was higher when the synthesis of the mixed oxides was carried out at a lower pH. Among the synthesized catalysts, Ni-Ce-8 (pH = 8) exhibited the best catalytic performance.