Homogeneity of Lanthanide Doped Ceria Nanocrystal Dispersions Using High-resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy

Aqueous sols of crystalline solid solutions of the general formula Ce1-xLnxO2-x/2□x/2 [Ln = entire lanthanide range, x = 0-0.50 and square = anion vacancy] were synthesised using inorganic materials. The nanocrystals were dispersed on an amorphous silica support and individual crystals examined for composition and structure by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HREM) and energy dispersive analysis of X-rays (EDX). High-resolution pictures showed the nanocrystals to be mainly between 5 and 10 nm in size, rarely elongated and with atomically clean faceted surfaces.Diffractograms were used to measure the lattice parameters of the face-centre-cubic (fcc) fluorite structures giving values, depending on dopant species and concentration of dopant, in the range 5.5-5.8 A. EDX analysis of individual crystals with the same nominal composition compared closely to each other and to that of an average over a large area indicating good homogeneity from the preparation method