Tracking the magnetic and sensing mechanism of CeO2 towards CO detection: An experimental and theoretical study

In this work, CeO2 nanocrystals with a mixture of distinct morphologies were obtained using different solvents (acetone or ethanol). The (micro)structural, sensing mechanism, and magnetic properties, as well as first-principle calculations were evaluated. XPS reveals that the sample synthesized in acetone exhibited a diminished Ce4+ content (and heightened Ce3+ concentration) compared to the sample synthesized in ethanol. In the case of the syntheses at acetone, sphere-like nanoparticles and nanorods present a predominance of surfaces (111) and (220), while the syntheses with ethanol led to a predominance of surfaces (200) for the sphere-like nanoparticles. Theoretical simulations reveal the spin polarization of f electrons in Ce ions neighboring oxygen vacancies suggests that oxygen vacancies situated at the surface may engender a greater number of magnetic moments compared to those induced by an oxygen vacancy within the bulk. At room temperature, the MS of CeO2 nanocrystals crystallized in acetone (66.20 emu-g) surpasses that of the CeO2 nanocrystals obtained in ethanol (24.07 emu-g), which can be attributed to the differing morphologies of the samples. Our findings illustrate that, in addition to the solvent type, the size and morphology of the particles also play a significant role in influencing the sensing mechanism and magnetic properties. Films based on CeO2 nanocrystals synthesized via MAS using acetone and ethanol revealed a fast response time of 9.6 s and 12 s, with a recovery time of 45.6 s and 87.6 s towards CO gas, respectively, these phenomena are attributed to the presence of oxygen vacancies, which facilitate the adsorption of CO. Our findings are key for facet engineering and may provide new strategies for producing CeO2based-materials to be applied in morphology-dependent technologies, such as carbon monoxide (CO) gas sensors.