Effects of Fe-doping of ceria-based materials on their microstructural and dynamic oxygen storage and release properties

The structural/textual characteristics and dynamic oxygen storage capacity (DOSC) of Fe_0.1Ce_0.9O_x and Fe_0.1Ce_0.6Zr_0.3O_x samples prepared by sol–gel method are investigated by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Raman, Hydrogen temperature-programmed reduction (H₂-TPR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and mass spectrometry with CO/O₂ transient pulses. The dynamic oxygen storage capacity and rate are largely promoted by Fe doping, and their thermal stability is enhanced by Fe and Zr co-doping. The DOSC (at 673 K) are ordered as: Fresh: Fe_0.1Ce_0.6Zr_0.3O_x (566.6 μmol/g) > Fe_0.1Ce_0.9O_x (551.8 μmol/g) > Ce_0.67Zr_0.33O₂ (287.5 μmol/g) > CeO₂ (140.3 μmol/g); Annealed_1,173K: Fe_0.1Ce_0.6Zr_0.3O_x (101.6 μmol/g) > Ce_0.67Zr_0.33O₂ (45.3 μmol/g) > Fe_0.1Ce_0.9O_x (44.9 μmol/g) > CeO₂ (43.3 μmol/g). The H₂-TPR results showed that Fe-incorporation improve the total oxygen storage capacity (TOSC) of mixed oxide and low temperature activity. The TOSC are ordered as: Fe_0.1Ce_0.9O_x (1.53 mmol/g) > Fe_0.1Ce_0.6Zr_0.3O_x (1.42 mmol/g) > Ce_0.67Zr_0.33O₂ (1.16 mmol/g) > CeO₂ (0.88 mmol/g). XRD and Raman results indicate that Fe_0.1Ce_0.9O_x and Fe_0.1Ce_0.6Zr_0.3O_x are characterized with the fluorite-type cubic structure similar to CeO₂. TPR and XPS analyses reveal that the introduction of Fe into ceria and ceria-zirconia mixed oxides strongly modified the structural and textural properties, which influenced the kinetics of bulk oxygen diffusion.