Fabrication of transparent ceria films by spray deposition without post firing

• Published in: Journal of electroceramics Vol. 22; no. 1-3; pp. 33 - 39
• Main Authors: Gallage, Ruwan, Matsuo, Atsushi, Watanabe, Tomoaki, Matsushita, Nobuhiro, Yoshimura, Masahiro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.02.2009; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acetates; Ceramics; Cerium oxide; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Composites; Consumption; Crystallography and Scattering Methods; Electrochemistry; Ethyl alcohol; Firing; Glass; Glass substrates; Materials Science; Nanocrystals; Natural Materials; Optical and Electronic Materials; Scanning electron microscopy; Spray deposition; Transparent film; Cerium oxide; Film; Optical properties; Spray deposition
• ISSN: 1385-3449; 1573-8663
• DOI: 10.1007/s10832-008-9464-8

Most of the existing methods of crystalline ceria (CeO 2 ) films preparation consume much time and cost. Here we describe a straightforward and relatively cost-effective method of CeO 2 films preparation that involves direct spray deposition process on glass substrates at moderate temperatures (300–400 °C) using cerium acetate precursor in mixture of water and ethanol. X-ray diffraction analysis of obtained films revealed that they were polycrystalline, at least for a certain extent, with cubic fluorite structure and showed the existence of nanocrystallites. Scanning electron microscopic analysis showed that the films were crack-free and consists of nanocrystalline(<10 nm) ceria. Furthermore, the film showed high transparency in the visible and near-infrared region with calculated optical band gap ( E g ) value of 3.06–3.08 eV. The film formation mechanism to obtain the transparent film has also been proposed.