Room-temperature homogeneous nucleation synthesis and thermal stability of nanometer single crystal CeO2

Abstract

Nanometer (about 4∼5 nm) CeO2 single crystals were first synthesized by room-temperature homogeneous nucleation; the size was determined by electron microscopy and specific surfaced area of the particles. Modeling revealed that the surface energy of as-synthesized nanometer single crystals was in the range of 2.8–3.7 J/m2. Crystal growth mechanisms change over the temperature regimes, from boundary diffusion over low-temperature regime (Ea=0.16 eV) to bulk diffusion (Ea=0.50 eV) over high-temperature region.