Outstanding dispersion of CeO2 on reduced graphene oxide. Implications for highly dispersed Pd catalysts

Abstract

In this contribution, we report a totally new and an unprecedented capability of producing nano-CeO2 evenly dispersed over reduced graphene oxide (rGO), enabling an extremely high dispersion of Pd at high loading (~5%wt) in the catalyst, in one-step hydrothermal synthesis. Morphology and thermal stability of the synthesized Pd/CeO2-rGO system are compared with Pd/rGO counterpart. High-resolution transmission microscopy studies of synthesized samples combined with X-ray diffraction, Raman and thermal analyses showed the formation of sub-nanometer Pd clusters on nano-CeO2 dispersed over reduced graphene oxide (rGO). Notably, rGO had a decisive role over the stabilization of CeO2 as nano-structures, leading to the outstanding Pd dispersion on this catalyst.