A multi-scaled oxygen storage material wherein cobalt element is complexed with a size of an atom or hundreds of nanometers or smaller in a ceria-zirconia solid solution and a method for preparing the same are provided.

Specifically, The multi-scaled oxygen storage material contains a ceria-zirconia solid solution, a cobalt dopping contained in the solid solution in the form of an atom and a cobalt-based nanocluster dispersed in the solid solution as cobalt oxide and exhibits a microstructure distinguished from that of the existing ceria-zirconia (CZO)-based oxygen storage material as well as remarkably improved oxygen storage and release ability, and the method for preparing the same is provided.

Disclosed is a gas sensor element having an electrode containing a first metal as a predominant component and a lead containing a second metal as a predominant component. The electrode and the lead are connected directly at a connection boundary thereof, or connected indirectly via a connection joint. The connection boundary or joint includes a component region where either one of the first and second metals lower in specific gravity than the other of the first and second metals is contained in an amount ranging between those in the electrode and the lead.

A particulate filter (1) is provided having a first wall flow region (2) and a second flow through region (3). The filter is provided with a catalytic washcoat, whereby the filter can be used to remove both particulate matter and harmful gaseous emissions from an exhaust gas stream.

The control system of an internal combustion engine performs normal operation control including lean control for making the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas flowing into the exhaust purification catalyst a lean air-fuel ratio, and rich control for making the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas flowing into the exhaust purification catalyst a rich air-fuel ratio. The normal operation control includes judgment reference decreasing control decreasing the judgment reference storage amount in the lean control when during the time period of performing the lean control, the air-fuel ratio of the exhaust gas flowing out from the exhaust purification catalyst becomes the lean judged air-fuel ratio or more. The control system judges that the exhaust purification catalyst is abnormal when the judgment reference storage amount becomes less than a deterioration judgment value.

In an EHC, a ratio of a heat capacity of the second catalyst body with respect to a heat capacity of the first catalyst body is made within a range of 0.67-1.5. A ratio of an amount of coat of an OSC material in the second catalyst body with respect to an amount of coat of an OSC material in the first catalyst body is made larger than the ratio of the heat capacity of the second catalyst body with respect to the heat capacity of the first catalyst body. A ratio of an amount of support of a noble metal in the second catalyst body with respect to an amount of support of a noble metal in the first catalyst body is made smaller than the ratio of the heat capacity of the second catalyst body with respect to the heat capacity of the first catalyst body.

The internal combustion engine comprises an exhaust purification catalyst able to store oxygen, and a downstream side air-fuel ratio sensor arranged at a downstream side of the exhaust purification catalyst in a direction of exhaust flow. The control system performs feedback control of an amount of fuel fed to a combustion chamber of the internal combustion engine so that an air-fuel ratio of exhaust gas flowing into the exhaust purification catalyst becomes a target air-fuel ratio and performs learning control to correct a parameter relating to the feedback control based on an air-fuel ratio of exhaust gas detected by the downstream side air-fuel ratio sensor. The target air-fuel ratio is alternately switched between a rich set air-fuel ratio and a lean set air-fuel ratio leaner. When a condition for learning acceleration, which is satisfied when it is necessary to accelerate correction of the parameter by the learning control, is satisfied, a rich degree of the rich set air-fuel ratio is increased. Therefore, there is provided an internal combustion engine able to suitably change the speed of updating the learning value.

The exhaust purification device of an internal combustion engine comprises a catalyst 20 arranged in an exhaust passage and able to store oxygen; and an air-fuel ratio control device configured to control an air-fuel ratio of inflowing exhaust gas flowing into the catalyst. The air-fuel ratio control device is configured to perform a distribution forming control controlling the air-fuel ratio of the inflowing exhaust gas so that in the catalyst, a first region with an oxygen storage amount of equal to or greater than a predetermined value and a second region with an oxygen storage amount of less than the predetermined value are alternately formed along an axial direction of the catalyst. The total number of the first region and the second region formed by the distribution forming control is equal to or greater than three.

The invention relates to a particulate filter which comprises a wall flow filter of length L and two catalytically active coatings Y and Z, wherein the wall flow filter comprises channels E and A that extend in parallel between a first and a second end of the wall flow filter and are separated by porous walls which form surfaces OE and OA, respectively, and wherein the channels E are closed at the second end and the channels A are closed at the first end, and the coatings Y and Z have the same oxygen storage components and the same carrier materials for noble metals. The invention is characterised in that the coating Y is located in the channels E on the surfaces OE and the coating Z is located in the channels Aon the surfaces OA.

Various embodiments include a method of ascertaining the oxygen load of a catalytic converter disposed in an exhaust tract of an internal combustion engine with an exhaust gas sensor is disposed downstream of the catalytic converter comprising: generating a signal using the exhaust gas sensor indicating a proportion of nitrogen oxide and/or ammonia in the exhaust gas; and ascertaining the oxygen load of the catalytic converter at least partly on the basis of the signal from the exhaust gas sensor.

The present disclosure provides an exhaust gas purification catalyst having improved durability, which comprises a substrate and a catalyst coat layer formed on the substrate, the catalyst coat layer having a two-layer structure, wherein the catalyst coat layer includes an upstream portion on an upstream side and a downstream portion on a downstream side in an exhaust gas flow direction, and a part or all of the upstream portion is formed on a part of the downstream portion, wherein the downstream portion contains Rh fine particles, and wherein the Rh fine particles have an average particle size measured by a transmission electron microscope observation of 1.0 nm or more to 2.0 nm or less, and a standard deviation σ of the particle size of 0.8 nm or less.