Abstract
A novel microwave irradiation process has been developed for the synthesis of hybrid homogenised nanosized cerium oxide and cerium oxycarbonate hydrate material. Aqueous cerium(IV) sulfate and cytosine were reacted in the presence of microwave irradiation for 10–15 min at a temperature of 40–45 °C. Cytosine acts as a novel multifunctional agent, as a source of alkaline amine, a source of carbon-containing moieties and also as a highly effective capping agent. This enables the synthesis of light yellow hybrid homogenised nanosized advanced material.
The synthesised material was characterised by various complementary techniques, namely X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis. The characterisation showed that the size of the nano particles were in the range 27–48.3 nm.