Morphological evolution and growth of cerium oxide nanostructures by virtue of organic ligands as well as monomer concentration

Abstract

Morphologically diverse nanostructures based on ceria have been fabricated by adopting a non-hydrolytic thermal decomposition strategy. It was assessed that parameters like the precursor concentration, characteristics of the surfactant and their molar ratio were crucial in controlling the evolution of morphology. Within the provided experimental conditions, a collection of nanopatterns including butterfly-shaped structures, plates, rods and bundles have been obtained. By means of transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction studies and thermogravimetric analyses, a shape-guiding mechanism based on (111)-oriented attachment has been put forward to rationalize the morphological progression. Also, an attempt has been made to correlate the optical properties exhibited by the structural motifs with their diversity in morphology. In general, the present study illustrates the facile tuning of the nano-construction of ceria on the grounds of modest synthetic strategies.