Effect of Cerium Doping on the Textural, Structural and Antibacterial Properties of Zinc Oxide

Zinc oxide (ZnO) and cerium-doped zinc oxide Zn1 – xCexO (x = 0.03~0.20) series samples were successfully synthesized by a hydrothermal method. According to SEM, TEM and EDX, the synthesized Zn1 – xCexO(x = 0.03~0.20) particles were micro-spheres self-assembly constructed from nano-grain units without base-catalysis. And BET data further confirmed the existence of mesoporous structure with uniform interparticle distribution in the hollow micro-spheres. XRD revealed cerium-doping would change crystal sizes, crystal lattice constant and a new phase of zinc-doped cerium oxide occurred at higher doping level of cerium more than 20%, suggesting that two phases of ZnO doped with cerium and CeO2 doped with zinc existed at exceeding the limit of doping. XPS characterized that Ce-doping in ZnO facilitated formation of more oxygen vacancies. 5% addition of Cerium makes zinc oxide particles positively charged, zeta potential higher and specific surface area larger. And Zn0.95Ce0.05O sample had more effective activity for the inhibition of S. aureus and E. coli growth.