Traditional nanostructured design of cerium oxide catalysts typically focuses on their shape, size, and elemental composition. We report a different approach to enhance the catalytic activity of cerium oxide nanostructures through engineering high density of oxygen vacancy defects in these catalysts without dopants. The defect engineering was accomplished by a low pressure thermal activation process that exploits the nanosize effect of decreased oxygen storage capacity in nanostructured cerium oxides.

Funding support: Nebraska Research Initiative, Nebraska Center for Energy Sciences Research, DOD/ARO, and NSF