Hydrothermal synthesis of ZnO-doped ceria nanorods: effect of ZnO content on the redox properties and the CO oxidation performanceHydrothermal synthesis of ZnO-doped ceria nanorods: effect of ZnO content on the redox properties and the CO oxidation performance Peer-Reviewed Journal Publication Δημοσίευση σε Περιοδικό με Κριτές 2021-04-222020enThe rational design of highly efficient, noble metal-free metal oxides is one of the main research priorities in the area of catalysis. To this end, the fine tuning of ceria-based mixed oxides by means of aliovalent metal doping has currently received particular attention due to the peculiar metal-ceria synergistic interactions. Herein, we report on the synthesis, characterization and catalytic evaluation of ZnO–doped ceria nanorods (NR). In particular, a series of bare CeO2 and ZnO oxides along with CeO2/ZnO mixed oxides of different Zn/Ce atomic ratios (0.2, 0.4, 0.6) were prepared by the hydrothermal method. All prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2 physisorption, temperature-programmed reduction (TPR), scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The CO oxidation reaction was employed as a probe reaction to gain insight into structure-property relationships. The results clearly showed the superiority of mixed oxides as compared to bare ones, which could be ascribed to a synergistic ZnO–CeO2 interaction towards an improved reducibility and oxygen mobility. A close correlation between the catalytic activity and oxygen storage capacity (OSC) was disclosed. Comparison with relevant literature studies verifies the role of OSC as a key activity descriptor for reactions following a redox-type mechanism. This research has been co-financed by the European Union and Greek national funds through the Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, under the calls RESEARCH—CREATE—INNOVATE (project code: T1EDK-00094)http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Applied Sciences1021Stefa_et_al_Appl. Sci._10(21)_2020.pdfChania [Greece]Library of TUC2021-04-22application/pdf4.0 MBfree Stefa Sofia Στεφα Σοφια Lykaki Maria Λυκακη Μαρια Binas Vassilios Pandis Pavlos Stathopoulos Vassilis Konsolakis Michail Κονσολακης Μιχαηλ MDPI CeO2/ZnO mixed oxides Zinc oxide Ceria nanorods Oxygen storage capacity CO oxidation