One-pot Electrochemical Preparation and Characterization of High Surface Area Ultrafine CeO2 Nanoparticles

Cerium oxide possess various applications including waste refiner, catalyst, electrolyte in solid state fuel cell, glass decoloring and materials polishing. The use of this material in nanosized form, with high surface area improves its functionality significantly. In this study, ultrafine CeO2 nano-particles were prepared by a simple electrochemical platform. The synthesis experiments were performed from 0.01 M cerium nitrate aqueous electrolyte in the presence of H2O2 and PVP. The as-deposited powder was also calcined 400 °C for 2 h. The morphologies and crystal structures of the prepared powders were examined by means of scanning and transmission electron microcopies (SEM and TEM) as well as X-ray diffraction (XRD), FT-IR and DSC-TGA. These analysis results proved the electro-synthesis of pure crystalline cerium oxide final particles. The high surface area (184.8 m2 g–1) of the prepared nanoparticles was also confirmed through BET analysis. A possible mechanism of CeO2 deposition on the cathode surface was proposed, when the hydrogen peroxide additive played an important role in the formation of hydrous cerium oxide. In final, this simple electrochemical procedure is proposed for mass production of high surface area ultrafine nanoparticles of cerium oxide.