Direct Observations of Ceo2-Catalyzed Soot Oxidation at the Nano-Scale Using Environmental Transmission Electron Microscopy

Environmental transmission electron microscopy (ETEM) was used to study in situ the kinetics and dynamics of CeO₂-catalyzed soot oxidation at the nano-scale. From time-lapsed ETEM image series, direct insight was obtained into structural changes of soot particles in contact with CeO₂ during exposure to oxidizing conditions. Based on the insight, it was shown that catalytic soot oxidation was governed by reactions at the CeO₂-soot interface and that this finding was consistent with previous findings.