Synthesis of single-crystalline CeCO3OH with shuttle morphology and their thermal conversion to CeO2

Single-crystalline cerium carbonate hydroxide (CeCO3OH) with shuttle morphology has been successfully synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method with the aid of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). The typical diameters of CeCO3OH shuttles (middle part) are about 800 nm, and the typical lengths are about several micrometers. The shuttle morphology of CeCO3OH was sustained after thermal decomposition-oxidation to CeO2. Furthermore, the influence of surfactant on the crystal morphologies and luminescence properties of the CeCO3OH products are investigated.