Effect of dopant on electronic structure of nanocrystalline CeO2

Abstract

The undoped and 3% Fe and Mn doped CeO2 nanoparticles, synthesized through co-precipitation method, have been reported in this present research work. The phase formation, purity and structural parameters have been determined through X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The single phase nanocrystalline fluorite structures have found to be possessed by all the samples. The particle sizes have been estimated to be in nanometre range. The electronic structure of synthesized samples has been studied through Near edge x-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) technique. The effect of the small size dopant ion on the electronic structure of the host matrix have been carefully scrutinized in the spectral analysis. It has been observed that the replacement of host cation with the dopant ion creates oxygen vacancies in the host matrix.