Low temperature synthesis and characterization of single phase multi-component fluorite oxide nanoparticle sols

We report for the first time a simple, scalable approach for the synthesis of single-phase multi-component fluorite oxide nanoparticle sols: Gd_0.2La_0.2Y_0.2Hf_0.2Zr_0.2O₂ (GLYHZ) and Gd_0.2La_0.2Ce_0.2Hf_0.2Zr_0.2O₂ (GLCHZ) using chemical co-precipitation followed by peptization in acidic medium under mild conditions (≤80 °C). High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) along with selected area electron diffraction (SAED) studies confirm fully crystalline single-phase cubic fluorite nanoparticles having a particle size of about 2-3 nm with a narrow size distribution was obtained. The powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Rietveld refinement studies of samples calcined at 500 °C for 4 hours confirm a single phase solid solution and a lack of secondary phases.