Electronic, bonding, and optical properties of CeO2 and Ce2O3 from first principles -: art. no. 115108

First-principles electronic structure calculations of cerium oxide in two forms, CeO2 and Ce2O3, are Presented. The 4f state of Ce is treated as a part of the inner core in Ce2O3 and as a valence-band-like state in CeO2,. The calculated ground-state and magnetic properties of the Ce (III) oxide are shown to be in agreement with available experimental data as well as the calculated ground-state and optical properties of Ce (IV) dioxide. The nature of the bonding in cerium oxide is discussed on the basis of an analysis of the charge-density and electron localization function distributions and described as a polarized ionic bond in both oxides.