Synthesis, Structural and Optical Behavior of Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles by Co-Precipitation Method

In this paper, cerium oxide (CeO2) nanoparticles were synthesized by co-precipitation method and validate its physical, chemical and optical properties. X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern confirms the formation of cubic fluorite structured CeO2 nanoparticles with Fm3 space group. Comparative study for crystallite size of CeO2 nanoparticles was realized with the help of Debye-Scherer's method and Williamson-Hall (W-H) plot analysis. The appearance of Ce-O stretching band in the Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) spectrum confirms the formation of CeO2 nanoparticles. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results exposed the formation of spherical shaped particles with nanosize regime. Optical properties of CeO2 nanoparticles were analyzed from UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and the direct band gap value was found to be 3.30 eV. Photoluminescence (PL) spectrum display the broad emission peak in the wavelength ranges of 450-495 nm under the excitation of 325 nm.