Defect engineering and modification of substrates for supported metal/metal oxide catalysts

A method comprising:

• loading a first concentration of precursors of a metal oxide onto a base material using incipient wetness impregnation (IWI) to form a catalyst support structure;
• performing a first calcination process on the catalyst support structure at a first temperature to produce first structures of the metal oxide, wherein at least one of the first concentration or the first temperature are selected to produce mixed oxide species at an interface with the base material;
• loading a second concentration of precursors of the metal oxide onto the catalyst support structure using IWI to at least partially cover the first structures of the metal oxide, wherein the second concentration is higher than the first concentration;
• and
• performing a second calcination process on the catalyst support structure at a second temperature lower than the first temperature to produce second structures of the metal oxide, wherein at least one of the second concentration or the second temperature are selected to produce the second structures of the metal oxide with a size scale smaller than a size scale of the first structures of the metal oxide.