Preparation and Characterization of CeO2 @Ag Core/Shell Nanoparticles by Pulsed Laser Ablation in Water

• Published in: Lasers in manufacturing and materials processing 2019-06, Vol.6 (2), p.126-135
• Main Authors: Ismail, Raid A., Abid, Suhad A., Taha, Ali A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ablation; Absorption; Cerium oxides; Core-shell particles; Electron microscopes; Energy gap; Energy transmission; Engineering; Fluorite; Fourier transforms; Industrial and Production Engineering; Infrared spectroscopy; Laser ablation; Machines; Manufacturing; Microprocessors; Nanoparticles; Optical properties; Processes; Pulsed lasers; Shells; Silver; Spherical shells; Surfaces and Interfaces; Thin Films; Transmission electron microscopy; X-ray diffraction
• ISSN: 2196-7229; 2196-7237
• DOI: 10.1007/s40516-019-00086-y

In this study, we have proposed the first synthesis process of CeO 2 @Ag core/shell nanoparticles NPs by laser ablation in water. The optical and structural properties of CeO 2 @Ag core/shell NPs were characterized using UV-Vis absorption, Fourier transformed infrared FT-IR spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction XRD, scanning electron microscope SEM, energy dispersive x-ray EDX, and transmission electron microscopy TEM. The XRD data confirm the existence of two diffraction peaks related to the crystalline CeO 2 nanoparticles (core) of cubic fluorite phase which highly oriented along (200) plane and the second peak is related to the Ag nanoparticles (shell) of cubic structure. UV-Vis absorption revealed that a sharp absorption peak was observed at 310 nm and the optical energy gap of the synthesized CeO 2 @Ag core/shell NPs was 3.6 eV, while the energy gap of ceria nanoparticles was 3.1 eV. FT-IR results show presence of absorption peak at 550 cm −1 , which belonged to Ce-O stretching mode. TEM investigation shows formation of spherical CeO 2 @Ag core/shell with average core size of 35 nm and shell thickness of 15 nm.