Small angle neutron scattering study of pore microstructure in ceria compacts

Ceria powders were prepared by gel combustion process using cerium nitrate and hitherto unexplored amino acids such as aspartic acid, arginine and valine as fuels. The powders have been characterized by X-ray and laser diffraction. Cold pressed compacts of these powders have been sintered at 1250°C for 2 h. Internal pore microstructure of the sintered compacts has been investigated by small angle neutron scattering (SANS) over a scattering wave vector q range of 0.003–0.17 nm⁻¹. The SANS profiles indicate surface fractal morphology of the pore space with fractal dimensionality lying between 2.70 and 2.76.