Preparation and characterization of ceria nanoparticles using crystalline hydrate cerium propionate as precursor

Ceria nanoparticles were synthesized simply by pyrolysis method using hydrate cerium propionate as precursor. The effect of pyrolysis temperature on the physical properties of ceria was investigated. It was found that the large crystals of precursor cracked to many nano-sized ceria particles on heating, and the medium particle sizes D50 determined by laser scattering (LS) method decreased firstly and then increased with minimum value around 460 nm at calcination temperature of 1000 °C. SEM observations showed that the average particle size of synthesized ceria powders ranged from 20 to 50 nm.