Fabrication of transparent ceria films by spray deposition without post firing

Most of the existing methods of crystalline ceria (CeO2) films preparation consume much time and cost. Here we describe a straightforward and relatively cost-effective method of CeO2 films preparation that involves direct spray deposition process on glass substrates at moderate temperatures (300-400 A degrees C) using cerium acetate precursor in mixture of water and ethanol. X-ray diffraction analysis of obtained films revealed that they were polycrystalline, at least for a certain extent, with cubic fluorite structure and showed the existence of nanocrystallites. Scanning electron microscopic analysis showed that the films were crack-free and consists of nanocrystalline(< 10 nm) ceria. Furthermore, the film showed high transparency in the visible and near-infrared region with calculated optical band gap (E (g)) value of 3.06-3.08 eV. The film formation mechanism to obtain the transparent film has also been proposed.