Biosynthesis of Nanostructured Ceria, its Optical and Magnetic Studies for Spintronic Applications

摘要

Nano structured ceria or nanoceria of average crystallite size ~ 6 nm are synthesized by chemical co precipitation method using cerium nitrate hexa hydrate and sodium hydroxide as starting materials. Onion juice extract is used as biological capping agent. Structural, optical and magnetic properties of prepared samples were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Raman, UV-Visible spectroscopy and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) measurements. The increase in the value of optical band gap compared to bulk may be attributed to the quantum confinement and its band gap is well matching with that silicon. In addition to this, it also possess room temperature ferromagnetism. Thus the synthesized nanoceria have the potential to combine both semiconducting and magnetic behavior in a single system for making compatible spintronic devices.