Determination of the Cerium Oxidation State in Cerium Vanadate

Use of low‐quality fuels in gas turbines can lead to vana‐dium hot corrosion of stabilized‐zirconia turbine blade coatings. The stabilizing oxide reacts with V 2 O 5 in the melt, forming a vanadate, thus removing the stabilizer from the zirconia. To better understand the vanadation reaction of one such oxide, CeO 2 , we have employed X‐ray absorption spectroscopy to determine the oxidation state of the resulting vanadate, CeVO 4 . A comparison of the cerium vanadate X‐ray absorption spectra with Ce 4+ and Ce 3+ standards has established that the cerium valence in this compound is 3 + . This result indicates that cerium is reduced during CeVO 4 formation and suggests that the vanadium reactant remains in the 5 + oxidation state.