Local structure investigation in ceria - zirconia K - phase by XAFS : unraveling the reason fo r outstanding oxygen storage capacity (OSC)

... In this framework, we prepared nanostructured ceria-zirconia mixed oxides using different thermal treatments under reductive atmosphere (5% H2 in Ar) and oxidative atmosphere to prepare the ,,?-phase", to serve as catalyst for HCl oxidation. By means of XAFS at Zr K- and Ce L3-edges we investigated whether the local atomic structure of CZ could be affected by the chosen synthetic route/thermal treatment and how the local structure of CZ determined the oxygen release behavior, at the same time assessing the reliability of XAFS in unambiguously determining the formation of the ,,?-phase". ...