| Abstract
| - We demonstrated the surface composite character down to the nanometer scale of SiO2−CeO2 compositehigh surface area materials, prepared using 5 nm colloidal CeO2 nanoparticle building blocks. Thesematerials are made of a homogeneous distribution of CeO2 nanoparticles in thin layers of SiO2, arrangedin a hexagonal symmetry as shown by small-angle X-ray scattering and transmission electron microscopy.Since the preparation route of these composite materials was selected in order to produce SiO2 wall thicknessin the range of the CeO2 nanoparticle diameter, these materials display surface nanorugosity as shownby inverse chromatography. Accessibility through the porous volume to the functional CeO2 nanoparticlesurfaces was evidenced through an organic acid chemisorption technique allowing quantitative determinationof CeO2 surface ratio. This surface composite nanostructure down to the nanometer scale does not affectthe fundamental properties of the functional CeO2 nanodomains, such as their oxygen storage capacity,but modifies the acid−base properties of the CeO2 surface nanodomains as evidenced by Fourier transformIR technique. These arrays of accessible CeO2 nanoparticles displaying high surface area and high thermalstability, along with the possibility of tuning their acid base properties, will exhibit potentialities forcatalysis, sensors, etc.
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