Synthesis and characterization of hexagonal ceria-BTC microrods for methanol decomposition

Background Novel three-dimensional (3D) hydrated ceria-BTC (CeO2–1,3,5-Benzenetricarboxylic-acid) is the important material due to its unique chemical and physical properties compared to the other materials. A novel 3D ceria nanostructure has been examined as a promising and feasible technique for methanol decomposition. Methods Novel 3D hydrated ceria-BTC microstructures were successfully synthesized via a hydrothermal route in an aqueous solution. Field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns show that a ceria-BTC framework diameter and length are approximately 1.45–2.4 and 5.5–6.5 µm, respectively, at 130 °C and with pH 2 for 72 h. The hexagonal ceria-BTC microrod comprises organic linkers, which are transformed into hierarchical ceria microrod in the presences of air at 400 °C was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Significant Findings The Ce-O bonding of the hierarchical ceria microrod species has a bond distance and coordination number of 2.44 and 6.89, respectively, which attenuates the Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectra. Compared to the ceria powder, the hierarchical ceria microrods produced more oxygen vacancies and Ce3+as shown by the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) analyses. The ceria microstructure exhibits excellent methanol decomposition activity.