Nanoscale Porosity of High Surface Area Gadolinium Oxide Nanofoam Obtained With Combustion Synthesis

Nanoscale gadolinium oxide (Gd2O3) is a promising nanomaterial with unique physicochemical properties that finds various applications ranging from biomedicine to catalysis. The preparation of highly porous Gd2O3 nanofoam greatly increases its surface area thereby boosting potential for functional use in such as water purification processes and catalytic applications. By using the combustion synthesis method, strong exothermic redox reaction between nitrate hexahydrate glycine causes formation crystalline nanoporous Gd2O3. In this study, achieved at large scale (grams). Its nanoscale porosity investigated by nitrogen physisorption 3D structure electron tomography, process well means situ heating inside transmission microscope. bulk product 67 m2 g−1 measured physisorption, good agreement tomographic reconstructions showing an intricate interconnected pore network sizes varying 2 3 nm tens nanometers. experiments point many possibilities tuning experimental conditions.