Room-temperature homogeneous nucleation synthesis and thermal stability of nanometer single crystal CeO2

Nanometer (about 4similar to5 nm) CeO2 single crystals were first synthesized by room-temperature homogeneous nucleation; the size was determined by electron microscopy and specific surfaced area of the particles. Modeling revealed that the surface energy of as-synthesized nanometer single crystals was in the range of 2.8-3.7 J/m(2). Crystal growth mechanisms change over the temperature regimes, from boundary diffusion over low-temperature regime (E-a=0.16 eV) to bulk diffusion (E-a=0.50 eV) over high-temperature region. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.