Low-Cost Hydrothermally Synthesized Multifunctional Rare Earth Metal Yttrium Cerium Oxide

Abstract

In this study, YCeO nanocomposites were efficaciously synthesized by the hydrothermal method in the company of sodium hydroxide as a reducing agent as well as cerium nitrate and yttrium nitrate as precursors. Synthesis temperature and pressure, during hydrothermal reactions, show a critical role in governing the shape, size, oxygen vacancy attentiveness, and low-temperature reducibility in CeO2-based nanocomposites. The lattice constants of the yttrium ceria nanocomposite also are contingent upon the attentiveness of hydroxide ions which primes better morphology at low temperature and pressure. The X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) pattern of YCeO shows the cubic structure of space group Fm3m, having a density of 6.74 gm cm−3, volume of 157.81 × 106 pm3, crystallite size of 18.66 nm, and lattice strain of 0.0041, and many more structural parameters were calculated. Field Emission-Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) studies show the granular structure and surface roughness. Surface porosity and specific surface area were observed by Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), average nanoparticle size was analyzed by the analyzer, and optical properties were observed by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and UV-Visible spectroscopy in which the presence of functional and carboxyl group were analysed by FTIR and absorption wavelength 256.58 nm and band gap 3.27 eV were analysed by UV-Visible spectroscopy, lastly thermal stability of this nanoparticle was analyzed by Thermo-Gravimetric Analysis (TGA).