Preparation and characterization of cerium doped LaCoO 3 perovskite

Cerium doped lanthanum cobaltite perovskites La1–x Ce x CoO3 with x = 0, 0.2, 0.4 were prepared by the sol-gel method (calcined for 5 h at 750°C) and characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray absorption, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area analysis. The results showed that the cerium doping promoted the structural transformation of LaCoO3 from rhombohedral into cubic structure. High specific surface area and small crystallite size were achieved at x = 0.2. The X-ray absorption results confirmed the formation of compound La1–x Ce x CoO3.