Hydrothermal synthesis and indication of room temperature ferromagnetism in CeO2 nanowires

Bundle of CeO2 nanowires have been successfully synthesized by a simple hydrothermal process using Ce(NO3)3·6H2O as cerium source and NaH2PO4·2H2O as mineralizer, into which no surfactant or template was introduced. The synthesized nanowires were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Raman spectroscopy and magnetization measurements. The XRD results indicated that CeO2 nanowires have fluorite structure. Magnetization measurements indicate that CeO2 nanowires exhibit room temperature ferromagnetism with remanent magnetization (Mr) and coercivity (HC) of about 7.44 × 10− 4 (emu/g) and 27.19 Oe, respectively, which may results due to the presence of defects in the CeO2 nanowires.

► Surfactant free synthesis of CeO2 nanowires.
► Raman peaks at 460 and 566 cm− 1.
► Room temperature ferromagnetism in CeO2 nanowires.