What is cerium oxide? What are its uses?
Cerium oxide, also known as cerium dioxide, has the molecular formula CeO2. Can be used as polishing materials, catalysts, UV absorbers, fuel cell electrolytes, automotive exhaust absorbers, electronic ceramics, etc.
Latest application in 2022: MIT engineers use ceramics to make glucose fuel cells to power implanted devices in the body. The electrolyte of this glucose fuel cell is made of cerium dioxide, which has high ion conductivity and mechanical strength and is widely used as an electrolyte for hydrogen fuel cells. Cerium dioxide has also been proven to be biocompatible
In addition, the cancer research community is actively studying cerium dioxide, which is similar to zirconia used in dental implants and has biocompatibility and safety
·Rare earth polishing effect
Rare earth polishing powder has the advantages of fast polishing speed, high smoothness, and long service life. Compared with traditional polishing powder – iron red powder, it does not pollute the environment and is easy to remove from the adhered object. Polishing the lens with cerium oxide polishing powder takes one minute to complete, while using iron oxide polishing powder takes 30-60 minutes. Therefore, rare earth polishing powder has the advantages of low dosage, fast polishing speed, and high polishing efficiency. And it can change the polishing quality and operating environment.
It is advisable to use high cerium polishing powder for optical lenses, etc; Low cerium polishing powder is widely used for glass polishing of flat glass, picture tube glass, glasses, etc.
·Application on catalysts
Cerium dioxide not only has unique oxygen storage and release functions, but also is the most active oxide catalyst in the rare earth oxide series. Electrodes play a crucial role in the electrochemical reactions of fuel cells. Electrodes are not only an indispensable and important component of fuel cells, but also serve as catalysts for electrochemical reactions. Therefore, in many situations, cerium dioxide can be used as an additive to improve the catalytic performance of the catalyst.
·Used for UV absorption products
In high-end cosmetics, nano CeO2 and SiO2 surface coated composites are used as the main UV absorbing materials to overcome the drawbacks of TiO2 or ZnO having a pale color and low UV absorption rate.
In addition to being used in cosmetics, nano CeO2 can also be added to polymers to prepare UV resistant aging fibers, resulting in chemical fiber fabrics with excellent UV and thermal radiation shielding rates. The performance is superior to the currently used TiO2, ZnO, and SiO2. In addition, nano CeO2 can also be added to coatings to resist ultraviolet radiation and reduce the aging and degradation rate of polymers.