Title: Preparation of pure and Pd-doped ceria nanoparticles via precipitation method and their optical properties

Authors: V. Rajendran; S. Gnanam

Addresses: Department of Physics, Presidency College, Chennai-600 005, Tamilnadu, India. ' Department of Physics, Presidency College, Chennai-600 005, Tamilnadu, India

Abstract: Pure and Pd-doped ceria nanoparticles were synthesised by a facile precipitation process, using cerium chloride and oxalic acid as precursors. The obtained products were characterised by XRD, FTIR, SEM, TEM, EDX, UV and PL. The XRD results show that the samples calcined at 400°C had a single phase cubic fluorite structure. The products appeared to be regularly spherical, and their sizes ranged from 10 to 15 nm. It was found that the transition metal-doped ceria nanoparticles could apparently shift the ultraviolet and visible absorption band of CeO₂ towards a visible range, and significantly improve their optical activity. The produced CeO₂ nanocrystals show a sharp UV emission band and the broad blue emission band. The as-synthesised ceria nanoparticles are promising materials for nanoscale optoelectronic devices, due to their excellent UV emission properties.

Keywords: ceria nanoparticles; palladium ions; precipitation process; microscopy studies; optical properties; nanotechnology; transition metals; nanocrystals; cerium oxide; optoelectronic devices; optoelectronics.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNP.2012.048021

International Journal of Nanoparticles, 2012 Vol.5 No.3, pp.267 - 278

Received: 17 Jun 2011
Accepted: 23 Sep 2011
Published online: 20 Aug 2014 *

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