Structure and magnetic properties of diluted magnetic metal oxides based on Cu-doped CeO2 nanopowders

The development of engineered nanostructures with precise morphology has gained significant attention due to new properties of these materials. Herein, we report a novel recipe to synthesize Ce1-xCuxO nanostructures via a hexamethylene triperoxide diamine assisted solvothermal method. The influence of Cu ion concentration (0.01 <= x <= 0.10) on the structure and morphology of the CeO nanocrystals was examined. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy demonstrated that the copper atoms tend to be incorporated into the CeO crystal structure in the form of Cu2+. At the Cu ion concentration x=0.09, the Cu-doped CeO2 displayed a very high saturation magnetic moment of 1.58 mu g/Co and coercivity of 154 G. The synthetic method designed in this work enhanced the ferromagnetic properties of the Ce1-xCuxO nanostructures compared to the materials obtained by conventional techniques. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.