Hydrothermal preparation of fractal dendrites: Cerium carbonate hydroxide and cerium oxide

The surfactant-assisted hydrothermal route was used to prepare fractal dendrite cerium carbonate hydroxide (CeOHCO{sub 3}) microstructures. After annealing at 600 deg. C for 4 h, the products were transformed to CeO{sub 2}. The crystal structures of the two compounds were determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The morphologies and microstructures were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Room temperature photoluminescence (PL) showed that a strong ultraviolet emission at 336 nm was observed for CeOHCO{sub 3}, and that centered at 415 nm for CeO{sub 2} microstructures. Both of these emission peaks are different from those reported for CeOHCO{sub 3} and CeO{sub 2} with other shapes. In addition, the possible growth mechanism of dendrite CeOHCO{sub 3} microstructures and the role of surfactant polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) were also investigated in this paper.