Study of agglomeration behavior of combustion-synthesized nano-crystalline ceria using new fuels

Ceria powders were prepared by gel combustion process using cerium nitrate and hitherto unexplored amino acid fuels such as aspartic acid, glutamic acid, arginine, tryptophan, phenyl alanine, valine, etc. These powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction, surface area analysis, sinterability, dynamic light scattering, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The combustion-synthesized powders were agglomerates of nano-crystallites. SAXS profiles of the powders prepared using tryptophan, phenyl alanine and dimethyl urea exhibited fractal behavior.