Influence of microwave heating on the growth of gadolinium-doped cerium oxide nanorods

In this communication, we demonstrate that the use of microwave heating during hydrothermal treatment drastically decreases the treatment time required to obtain gadolinium-doped ceria nanorods and that the oriented attachment is the dominant mechanism responsible for anisotropic growth. In fact, considering oriented attachment (OA) as a statistical mechanism, we postulate that the growth process conducted under microwave heating increases the effective collision rate. A plausible explanation for the increase of the effective collision rate under microwave irradiation is the increase in the collision cross-section of the particle.