Characterization and optical properties of nano-ceria synthesized by surfactant-mediated precipitation technique in mixed solvent system

Crystalline cerium oxide nanoparticles have been synthesized by surfactant-mediated precipitation technique in acetone/water mixed solvent system. The cerium nitrate hexahydrate as precursor and non-ionic surfactant Tween 80 were taken in acetone/water system and precipitated with ammonia at pH 10. The sample was then calcined for 2 h in the temperature range of 200–800 °C and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), FTIR, BET surface area and TEM. It was found from XRD studies that the crystallite size increased with calcination temperature from 3 nm to 13 nm and the surface area was found to be 133 m2/g for 400 °C calcined sample. The particle size obtained from high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) was in the range of 4.5 nm with uniform shape and narrow particle size distribution. The diffraction pattern completely indexed with the cubic fluorite structure of CeO2. The calcined cerium oxide nanoparticles showed strong UV absorption and room temperature photoluminescence (PL).