Synthesis, densification and characterization of Ag doped ceria nanopowders

Abstract Nanosized Ag-doped ceria (Ce1-xAlxO2-▯)powders (0.1 ≤ x ≤ 0.04) were obtained by self-propagating room temperature reaction. The solid solubility of Ag into ceria lattice was the highest reported so far. X-ray diffraction analysis and field emission scanning microscopy results showed that the doped samples are single phase solid solutions with fluorite-type structure and all prepared powders were nanometric in size. The average size of Ce1-xAgxO2-▯ particles lies at about 4 nm. Raman spectra revealed an increase in the amount of oxygen vacancies with the increase of Ag concentration, such as is foreseen. The thermal stability of solid solution was followed by XRD. Microstructure development was studied by scanning electron microscopy. By controlling the processing variables, it was possible to obtain high density samples with homogeneous microstructure at low sintering temperature.