Facile hydrothermal synthesis of CeO2 nano-octahedrons and their magnetic properties

• CeO2 nano-octahedrons are synthesized by a facile one-step hydrothermal method.
• The CeO2 nano-octahedrons show excellent room-temperature ferromagnetism.
• The controllable morphology and excellent room-temperature ferromagnetism should make the CeO2 nano-octahedrons excellent candidates for applications in related areas.

CeO2 nano-octahedrons have been successfully synthesized by a facile one-step hydrothermal method. The influences of reaction time on the morphologies, crystal structures, and magnetic properties of the resulting products have been investigated. It is found that morphology is dependent on reaction time. Regular CeO2 nano-octahedrons synthesized at 190 °C exhibit weak but unambiguous room-temperature ferromagnetism (RTFM). However, irregular CeO2 nano-octahedrons synthesized at 250 °C exhibit a stronger RTFM. The enhanced ferromagnetism can be attributed to the effects of the oxygen vacancies and defects from the smaller crystallite sizes.

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