Morphological effect of strong metal-support interaction in Au/CeO₂

Herein, Au/ CeO2 was synthesized to study the morphological effect on the behavior construction of strong metal-support interaction (SMSI). Different morphologies of CeO2, such as nanocube and nanorod, were selected as catalytic support. A series of characterization including high resolution (scanning) transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, hydrogen temperature programmed reduction (H-2-TPR) and so on, revealed that the mass transfer on nanocube was occurred more easily and the CeO2- x coating on the surface of nanocubes was thicker than nanorod. The CeO2- x coating resulted that the adsorption of small molecules decreased significantly and catalytic active sites were hidden. The influence on probe reaction (selective catalytic hydrogenation activity of butadiene) could be observed clearly. Therefore, the CeO2 nanocube was more facile undergo Au-CeO2 SMSI than the nanorod.