Optical and structural properties of sol-gel derived nanostructured CeO2 film

Sol-gel derived nanostructured CeO2 film was deposited on glass substrate using by dip-coating technique with annealing at 65℃.X-ray diffraction (XRD),scanning electron microscopy (SEM),Fourier transform infrared (FTIR),UV/vis and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy studies were employed to analyze the structural and optical properties of the sol-gel derived nanostructured CeO2 film.The average crystallite size was estimated from the XRD pattern using by Scherrer equation as about 3-4nm.An SEM micrograph shows that the film was porous in nature and crack free.The UV-visible absorption spectroscopic measurement results showed that the products had conspicuous quantum size effects.The absorption spectrum indicates that the sol-gel derived nanostructured CeO2 film has a direct bandgap of 3.23 eV and the photoluminescence spectra of the film show a strong band at 378 nm:it may have a promising application as an optoelectronic material.