Role of the Surface Chemistry of Ceria Surfaces on Silicate Adsorption

Ceria nanoparticles (NPs) have been widely explored as a promising material in various fields. As synthesized under various physicochemical conditions, it exhibits the different surface chemistry. Here, the role of hydroxyl and nitrate group on ceria surface, formed under various physicochemical conditions, for the silicate adsorption was experimentally and theoretically investigated based on the adsorption isotherms and theoretical analyses using density functional theory (DFT) calculation. Experimental results acquired from adsorption isotherms with Freundlich model indicated that the nitrate group shows a much higher affinity with silicate than the hydroxyl groups. These phenomena were demonstrated through the theoretical approaches that exhibit the binding energy of the NO₃–ceria (−4.383 eV) on the SiO₂ surface being much higher than that of the OH–ceria (−3.813 eV). In good agreement with the experimental and the theoretical results based on adsorption properties, the results of chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) also show that the nitrate groups significantly enhance the removal of SiO₂ than the hydroxyl groups. The results investigated in this study will provide researchers, studying the ceria NPs, with guidelines on the importance of exploring the surface chemistry of ceria.