Investigation on synthesis, structure, morphology, spectroscopic and electrochemical studies of praseodymium-doped ceria nanoparticles by combustion method

• Praseodymium doped Ceria was synthesized by citrate nitrate auto-combustion method.
• XRD revealed that they crystallize as single-phase cubic fluorite structure.
• FTIR and RAMAN studies were carried to analyze the existence of functional groups.
• The morphology of the particles and compacts were analyzed by SEM and TEM.
• Cyclic voltammetry (CV) for the pure and Pr3+:CeO2 were measured and compared.

The investigation deals with the synthesis and characterization of praseodymium doped ceria (PDC) nanoparticles by citrate nitrate auto-combustion method. The as prepared PDC powders were calcined at 700 °C, and then dense cylindrical electrolyte bodies were fabricated by uni-axial compression followed by sintering at 1200 °C. The PDC nanocrystals and compacts were subjected to characterization studies such as X-ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, elemental analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy and electrochemical analyses. The crystal structure of PDC was found to be a cubic fluorite system by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD). The surface morphologies and the grain distributions of the calcined nanoparticles and sintered bodies were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The grain size of the sintered material was found to be in the range from 100 nm to 500 nm. Transmission electron microscopic (TEM) images revealed the presence of polyhedral, sphere-like shape of the nanoparticles with a size range 10–25 nm. The symmetric stretching mode of the Ce–O was obtained at 555 cm−1 in the FTIR spectrum. The Raman active mode for the PDC was obtained at 457 cm−1. The presence of oxygen vacancies was confirmed from the weaker absorption band observed at 560 cm−1 in the Raman spectrum. The change in current density with increasing sweep scan potential was studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV) analysis. The specific capacitance range of the PDC was calculated as 20–72.4 Fg−1.

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