Metal enhanced luminescence of Cerium Oxide (IV) Hollow Sub-microspheres with Au, AuPd and Pd Nanoparticles

Abstract

This work reports an analysis of the luminescent properties of Cerium oxide (IV) hollow sub-microspheres (CeO2-HS) as well as the effect of the presence of Au, AuPd and Pd NPs over the mentioned properties. CeO2-HS were synthesized via a hydrothermal method, then the CeO2-HS were impregnated with the metal precursors and by a reduction process, the metal nanoparticles (NPs) were obtained. CeO2-HS were characterized by XRD, Raman, UV-Vis and TEM. The CeO2-HS with metal NPs deposited on them were analyzed using UV-Vis and TEM. Luminescent excitation and emission spectra were recorded for all samples. It was observed that the presence of metal NPs dramatically increases the emission intensity compared to the CeO2-HS without metal NPs. Finally, it was also observed a slight but evident displacement of the main emission peak between samples with and without metal NPs.