Modulation of Cerium Carbonate Crystal Growth by Polyvinylpyrrolidone using Density Functional Theory

Cerium carbonate crystal morphology is predicted using density functional theory (DFT) simulations in this paper. In the nucleation phase, the ketone group in polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) will preferentially bind to Ce3+ to form complexes and provide heterogeneous nucleation sites for the system, prompting the nucleation of cerium carbonate crystals. In the growth stage, due to the adsorption of PVP, the probability of (120) crystal plane appearing in the equilibrium state is the greatest, resulting in the formation of hexagonal flake cerium carbonate crystals with (120) crystal plane as the oblique edge. Experimentally, hexagonal sheet cerium carbonate crystals were successfully prepared using PVP as a template agent. Therefore, DFT can be used to predict the morphology of cerium carbonate crystals, which not only elucidates the growth mechanism of cerium carbonate crystals, but also greatly reduces the experimental cost.