Synthesis of single-crystalline Ce(CO3)(OH) with novel dendrite morphology and their thermal conversion to CeO2

Single-crystalline cerium carbonate hydroxide (Ce(CO3)(OH)) with dendrite morphologies have been successfully synthesized by hydrothermal method at 150 °C using Ce(NO3)3·6H2O as the cerium source, aqueous carbamide as both an alkaline and carbon source and poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) as surfactant. Ceria (CeO2) with dendrite morphologies have been fabricated by a thermal decomposition–oxidation process at 500 °C for 6 h using single-crystalline Ce(CO3)(OH) dendrites as the precursor. The dendrite morphologies of Ce(CO3)(OH) was sustained after thermal decomposition–oxidation to CeO2. The as-prepared products were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and thermogravimetric analysis (TG).