Structural, Optical, and Magnetic Properties of Nd-Doped CeO2 Nanoparticles Codoped with Transition Metal Elements (Cu, Zn, Cr)

Abstract

In the present work, pure CeO2, neodymium-doped CeO2, and neodymium and transition metal element (Cu, Zn, Cr)-codoped CeO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by an auto-combustion method and annealed at 700 ∘C. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies revealed that all the samples exhibited a single-phase cubic fluorite structure with the incorporation of respective dopant ions into the CeO2 lattice. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images displayed the prepared nanoparticles which had an irregular flaky structure with large agglomerations. The Fourier transform Raman (FT-Raman) spectroscopy analysis revealed the increased oxygen vacancy defects in CeO2 host after doping and codoping with neodymium and transition metal elements. Ultraviolet-diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-DRS) studies revealed the decrease in bandgap values in doped and codoped samples compared to pure CeO2 sample. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) studies revealed the presence of functional groups in the prepared samples. Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy analysis reported the decreased luminescence intensities of Nd-doped and neodymium and transition metal-codoped CeO2 nanoparticles. The vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) results depicted that all the samples exhibited room-temperature ferromagnetism.