In an attempt to control the surface dispersion and the mobility of BaO domains on NO x storage materials, TiO 2 /TiO x anchoring sites were introduced on/inside the conventional γ-Al 2 O 3 support matrix. BaO/TiO 2 / Al 2 O 3 ternary oxide materials were synthesized via two different sol-gel preparation techniques, with varying surface compositions and morphologies. The synthesized NO x storage materials were studied via XRD, Raman spectroscopy, BET surface area analysis, TPD, XPS, SEM, EDX-mapping, and in situ FTIR spectroscopy of adsorbed NO 2 . NO x uptake properties of the BaO/TiO 2 /Al 2 O 3 materials were found to be strongly influenced by the morphology and the surface structure of the TiO 2 /TiO x domains. An improved Ba surface dispersion was observed for the BaO/TiO 2 /Al 2 O 3 materials synthesized via the coprecipitation of alkoxide precursors, which was found to originate mostly from the increased fraction of accessible TiO 2 /TiO x sites on the surface. These TiO 2 /TiO x sites function as strong anchoring sites for surface BaO domains and can be tailored to enhance surface dispersion of BaO. TPD experiments suggested the presence of at least two different types of NO x species adsorbed on the TiO 2 /TiO x sites, with distinctively different thermal stabilities. The relative stability of the NO x species adsorbed on the BaO/TiO 2 /Al 2 O 3 system was found to increase in the following order: NO + /N 2 O 3 on alumina , nitrates on alumina < surface nitrates on BaO < bridged/bidentate nitrates on large/isolated TiO 2 clusters < bulk nitrates on BaO on alumina surface and bridged/bidentate nitrates on TiO 2 crystallites homogenously distributed on the surface < bulk nitrates on the BaO sites located on the TiO 2 domains.