Morphology Control of Cerium Oxide Particles Synthesized via a Supercritical Solvothermal Method

Rod and sphere-like CeO(2) particles were obtained via a supercritical solvothermal method using CeCl(3).7H(2)O and Ce(NO(3))(3).6H(2)O as cerium sources in ethanol and methanol at 400 degrees C for 15 min followed by calcination in air. The rodlike particles were 200-400 nm in diameter and 1-2 mum in length. The spherical particles were 300-500 nm in diameter. The as-prepared rodlike particles using CeCl(3).7H(2)O consisted of mixtures of Ce(OH)(3) and Ce(CH(3)COO)(3) and were converted to rodlike CeO(2) by calcination in air at 500 degrees C. In contrast, the spherical particles prepared using Ce(NO(3))(3).6H(2)O consisted of fluorite-structured CeO(2). The possible formation mechanism was discussed on the basis of the effect of reaction time on the morphology at 400 degrees C. The rod- and spherelike CeO(2) particles exhibited strong UV absorption below 400 nm, and the absorbance edges extend to nearly 500 nm. The rod- and spherelike CeO(2) particles exhibited near-UV emission at 360 nm and blue emission at 465 nm with higher emission intensity compared to the commercial CeO(2) sample.