Catalytic properties of Ceramic Foams

Several ceramic foams made of Ceria- stabilized Tetragonal Zirconia Polycrystals have been prepared by an in-situ polimerization of polyurethans. It is shown that the powder preparation technique has a profound influence on the microstructure of the foam; specifically, co-precipitaed powders give origin to more irregular surfaces of the foam, whereas co-milled powders result in very dense and regular microstructures of the struts constituting the foams. The catalitic activity of these foams have been studied by Temperature Programmed Reduction (TPR) experiments and it is shown that co-milled powders yields TPR profiles rather similar to pure Cerium oxide, even if the real CeO2 content of the foams is about 12-14% mol