Design and synthesis of CeO₂ nanowire/MnO₂ nanosheet heterogeneous structure for enhanced catalytic properties

A novel CeO₂ nanowires/MnO₂ nanosheets heterogeneous structure was successfully synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method and its carbon monoxide (CO) catalytic properties were studied. Amorphous MnO₂ nanosheets were firstly formed on the surface of CeO₂ nanowires to establish a core-shell structure mediated by interfacial redox process which was further transformed to δ-MnO₂ through post heat treatment. Compared with as-prepared CeO₂ nanowires, CeO₂ nanowires/MnO₂ nanosheets heterogeneous architecture showed improved catalytic performance because of the strong synergistic interaction between CeO₂ and MnO₂ at the interface. Moreover, the formation of δ-MnO₂ further enhanced the catalytic properties by achieving more defective structures through a slight Mn doping. The catalytic activities can be further enhanced by core-shell compositional optimization. Thus, designing heterogeneous junction was an attractive approach for improving the catalytic properties of CeO₂ based nanomaterials.