Room-Temperature Homogeneous Nucleation Synthesis and Thermal Stability of Nanometer Single Crystal CeO₂

Abstract

Nanometer (about 4~5nm) 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 2.8-3.7J/m2. Crystal growth mechanisms change over the temperature regimes, from boundary diffusion over low-temperature regime (Eα=0.16eV) to bulk diffusion (Eα=0.50eV) over high-temperature region