Structural, optical and magnetic properties of Pr doped CeO2 nanoparticles synthesized by citrate–nitrate auto combustion method

Abstract

In the present work, pure and Pr doped CeO2 nanoparticles in the form of Ce1−xPrxO2 (x = 0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15 and 0.20) were synthesized by citrate–nitrate auto combustion method. The combustion derived products were annealed at 700 °C and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), ultraviolet-diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-DRS), Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Fourier Transform-Raman Spectroscopy (FT-Raman), photoluminescence analysis (PL) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) studies. XRD studies revealed that all the samples exhibited single phase cubic fluorite structure. SEM images displayed that pure and Pr doped CeO2 nanoparticles had irregular flaky shape with few agglomerations. TEM results show the proper formation of cubic fluorite structure of nanoparticles. UV-DRS spectroscopy results showed the red shifting in the absorption band edge with increased Pr concentration. The vibrational band assignment of pure and Pr doped CeO2 nanoparticles were analyzed by FT-IR spectroscopy. FT-Raman studies revealed increased defect concentration for the doped samples compared with pure CeO2. PL intensities of doped CeO2 nanoparticles decrease compared with pure CeO2 nanoparticles due to the evolution of non-radioactive oxygen vacancies in the structure. VSM results depicted the suppression of ferromagnetic behavior on Pr doping.