X-ray diffraction and UV-visible spectroscopy study of Fe-Cu co-doped CeO2

Pure and (Fe, Cu) co-doped [Ce1-x-yFexCuy; (x=0.02, y=0.05)] CeO2 nanoparticles have been synthesized by using hydrothermal method. The prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and UV-Vis spectroscopy. The analysis of XRD data confirmed the single-phase cubic fluorite structure of pure and co-doped CeO2 nanoparticles. The effect of co-doping on structural and optical properties of CeO2 was studied. It has been found that co-doping increases the lattice strain and reduction in crystallite size and lattice parameter. The band gap was calculated using UV-Vis absorption spectra. It was observed that co-doping leads to huge reduction in band gap from 2.87 eV to 2.39 eV. This may be due to the presence of oxygen vacancies related defects which shifts the band gap.