Structural and morphological characterization of cerium oxide nanocrystals prepared by hydrothermal synthesis

Colloidal cerium oxide (CeO2) nanocrystals prepared by hydrothermal synthesis were characterized by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and three-dimensional electron tomography (3D-ET). HRTEM images of individual CeO2 nanocrystals were then simulated by Blochwave and multislice simulations to determine the atomic arrangement and terminating atoms. The edge length distributions were between 5.0 and 8.0 nm with an average edge length of 6.7 nm. The HRTEM images showed that the CeO2 particles were slightly truncated revealing {220} facets. 3D-ET revealed that the CeO2 nanocrystals exposed predominantly {200} cubic facets. The nanocrystals were truncated at the corners exposing {111} octahedral facets and at the edges {220} dodecahedral facets. Furthermore, 3D-ET revealed the presence of some tetragonal-shaped CeO2 nanocrystals.