Cerium carbonate hydroxide and ceria micro/nanostructures: Synthesis, characterization and electrochemical properties of CeCO3OH

Cerium hydroxide carbonate (CeCO3OH) nano and microcrystals were synthesized by the hydrothermal method at 180 degrees C using cerium nitrate (Ce(NO3)(3)center dot 6H(2)O) as the cerium source, urea as both an alkaline and carbonate source with cetyltrimetylammonium bromide (CTAB) as the directing agent. By varying many of the experimental parameters such as the molar ratio CTAB/Ce(NO3)(3)center dot 6H(2)O [CTAB/Ce], cerium hydroxide carbonate nanomaterials with different morphologies were obtained. However, cerium oxide (CeO2) micro/nanostructure is obtained through the thermal decomposition of CeCO3OH at 300 degrees C for 1 h. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermal analyses (TG-DTA) were the techniques used to study the resulting products. The CeCO3OH microstructure exhibits an excellent electrochemical reversibility, which is an important feature with many applications such as in lithium ion batteries. (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l.