Fuel Cell Materials Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Allahabad, Allahabad-211 002, Uttar Pradesh, India E-mail : mcc46@rediffmail.com, nchaubey au@rediffmail.com Manuscript received 27 January 2011, accepted 04 February 2011 In this study nann-crystalline ceria and 20 mol% gadolinia doped ceria with cubic fluorite structure have been synthesized by co-precipitation method using solutions of cerium nitrate and gadolinium nitrate and liquor ammonia as a precipitating

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... nt. Phase purity, lattice parameter and average crystallite size of the samples was determined by X-ray diffraction technique. The average crystallite size achieved by this method is 6 nm which is smaller than that of prepared by other methods. The presence of impurities and thermal decomposition behavior of the samples were investigated by Fourier transformed infra red spectroscopy and thermo gravimetric analysis/differential thermal analysis respectively. The particle size distribution of the samples was investigated by small angle X-ray scattering studies. Ethanol and octanol has been used for washing the precipitates in order to lessen the strength of hydrogen bonds between the neighboring precipitates and to get soft agglomerates with uniform particle size distribution. The microstructure of the sample was studied by Scanning electron microscopy.