A study on agglomeration behavior of 20 mol% gadolinia doped ceria nanopowders prepared by co-precipitation route

摘要

In this study nano-crystalline ceria and 20 mol% gadoiinia doped ceria with cubic fluorite structure have been synthesized by co-precipitation method using solutions of cerium nitrate and gadolinium nitrate and liquor ammonia as a precipitating agent. Phase purity, lattice parameter and average crystallite size of the samples was determined by X-ray diffraction technique. The average crystallite size achieved by this method is 6 nm which is smaller than that of prepared by other methods. The presence of impurities and thermal decomposition behavior of the samples were investigated by Fourier transformed infra red spectroscopy and thermo gravimetric analysis/differential thermal analysis respectively. The particle size distribution of the samples was investigated by small angle X-ray scattering studies. Ethanol and octanol has been used for washing the precipitates in order to lessen the strength of hydrogen bonds between the neighboring precipitates and to get soft agglomerates with uniform particle size distribution. The microstruc-ture of the sample was studied by Scanning electron microscopy.