Structural, Optical and Magnetic properties of Cu doped CeO2 nano powders synthesized by solid state reaction

Abstract

The present study employed the solid-state reaction approach to synthesize powder samples of cerium oxide (Ce1-xCuxO) with copper (Cu) substitution. Subsequently, these samples were subjected to annealing at a temperature of 950℃ for a duration of 10 hours using a horizontally positioned tube-controlled furnace. The present study aims to evaluate the characteristics of annealed sample powders and examine the impact of annealing on these qualities. The cubic structure was verified using X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The size of the crystallites exhibited a range of 16.9 to 40.43 nm, whilst the lattice parameters demonstrated an enhancement from 5.456 to 5.482 Ǻ. Based on the findings of optical research, it has been observed that the optical band gap of the powders exhibits a rise in value as the concentration is reduced, ranging from 3.26 to 3.16 eV. The examination of Ce1-xCuxO nano powders using photoluminescence (PL) analysis at excitation wavelengths of 300 nm revealed emission in the violet, blue, green, and red regions within the range of 300-700 nm. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) were employed for the examination of the surface characteristics and chemical composition of Ce1-xCuxO powder specimens. The observed surface morphology exhibited a predominantly spherical shape. The nano powder samples exhibit paramagnetic properties as indicated by their magnetic characteristics. The magnetic moment of Ce1-xCuxO nanoparticles that have not undergone annealing varied between 153.06 x10-6 and 490.91 x 10-6 emu/g, whereas the coercive field ranged from 137.18 to 4857.3 Oe. The outcome that was noticed is analysed and deliberated about in this investigation.