Hydrothermal Synthesis and Effects on Morphology of Micron Materials of CeCO₃OH

Single-crystalline cerium carbonate hydroxide (CeCO₃OH) with shuttle morphology has been successfully synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method using Ce(NO₃)₃·6H₂O as cerium source, aqueous urea as both an alkaline and carbon source and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as surfactant. Under a suitable reaction condition, the perfect orthorhombic crystalline phase CeCO₃OH shuttles with highly crystalline nature can be obtained. The structure and morphology of the resultant products were characterized by using XRD, FESEM, TEM and Selected-Area Electron Diffraction (SAED). The results show that the morphology and structure of the obtained products can be strongly influenced by changing the reaction conditions, such as: urea concentration, reaction temperature and the composition of surfactants. The high UV absorption of shuttle CeCO₃OH indicates that this material is suitable as a UV-blocking material.