An insight into the microstructural properties and dielectric behavior of Ce doped WO3 nanoparticles

W1-xCexO3 (0.0 < x < 0.08) nanoparticles were successfully synthesized via surfactant assisted facile sol-gel technique. Influence of dopant ion on microstructural properties, dielectric response, ac conductivity, impedance, and electric modulus of WO3 nanoparticles have been studied. The particle morphology was affected upon Ce insertion from irregular to spherical to flakes as revealed by TEM images. XRD backed by Rietveld refinement confirmed monoclinic phase of all samples without any impurity. The microstructural properties like stress, strain and energy density have been determined using different W-H methods (UDM, UDSM, UDEDM). The FTIR spectra illustrated the presence of characteristic m-WO3 absorption bands centered at 612, 769 and 822 cm-1. The dielectric properties found to be significantly tuned with Ce doping and ac conductivity follows the Jonscher power law where the value of 's' lies below unity. The Cole-Cole plots and electrical modulus analysis suggested the non-Debye type relaxation mechanisms.