Three-dimensional nitrogen-doped porous carbon anchored CeO2 quantum dots as an efficient catalyst for formaldehyde oxidation

Catalytic oxidation of formaldehyde with non-noble metal catalysts is desirable yet still challenging. In this work, we describe a hard template method in combination with an in situ chelating strategy to construct a novel three-dimensionally structured CeO2-based composite which contains CeO2 quantum dots of 1.5-2.5 nm size anchored on nitrogen doped hierarchical porous carbon with both macropores and mesopores. When used as an oxidation catalyst, complete oxidation of formaldehyde could be achieved at a temperature 130 degrees C lower than that of bulk nano-CeO2 catalyst. The significantly improved catalytic activity could be attributed to the higher amount of oxygen vacancies and enhanced redox properties of CeO2 quantum dots as well as the three-dimensional porous texture.