Facile synthesis of ultra-small monodisperse ceria nanocrystals at room temperature and their catalytic activity under visible light

Abstract

An optimized facile method has been developed to synthesize ultra-small monodisperse ceria nanocrystals (3 to 4 nm) strictly at RT. The presence of well resolved broad peaks ([111], [200], [220] and [311]) for as-synthesized samples reveal the formation of the cubic phase of ceria. The detailed characterization by TEM exhibited the formation of monodisperse and crystalline ceria nanocrystals. These as-synthesized nanocrystals have shown autocatalytic behaviour and photocatalytic activity under visible sunlight, hence appears to be potential candidates for biomedical (antioxidant), solar cell applications.