Hydrothermal synthesis of monodisperse CeO2 nanocubes

Monodisperse CeO2 nanocubes have been fabricated via an acrylamide-assisted hydrothermal route. NH3 and acrylic acid from the hydrolysis of acrylamide act as OH− provider and capping reagent, respectively. The structure and morphology of the products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and Fourier transformed infrared (FT-IR). The products have a cubic morphology with a mean size of 200 nm. The possible formation mechanism has been discussed based on the experimental results.