Grain Size Dependence of Ceria(CeO ₂ ) on Post Synthesis Annealing Temperature

ABSTRACT Cerium oxide, commonly known as Ceria, is a non‐radioactive surrogate of uranium oxide (Urania) and thorium oxide (thoria) and a possible candidate for cladding material due to its low neutron absorption. Ceria powder is synthesized by using the chemical co‐precipitation method, hydrothermal method, and chemical combustion method. The synthesized CeO2 powder is annealed at temperatures of 600°C, 800°C, 1000°C, 1200°C, 1400° C, and 1600°C for 6 h to study the effect of annealing temperature on the grain size. X‐ray diffraction analysis confirms the synthesis of crystalline CeO2, and crystallite size increases as temperature increases up to 1400°C, which has been correlated with FESEM analysis. Change in the annealing temperature has led to the formation of different grain sizes of 10–30 nm, 30–60 nm, 100–300 nm, 300–1000 nm 2–10 µm, and 10–40 µm corresponding to annealing temperatures of 600°C, 800°C, 1000°C, 1200°C, 1400°C, and 1600°C respectively and find that crystallinity of CeO2 increase with increasing temperature. This study can pave the way for the development of customized ceria as per the application.