LAUSR

Abstract Synthesis of metal ions (Cd 2+ , Li + ) doped CePO 4 nanocrystals were achieved through a simple hydrothermal route at 150 °C using citric acid and poly-ethylene-glycol (PEG-6000). The results obtained reveal that the low percentage of (Cd 2+ , Li + ) dopant affect the structure showing a weak decrease in the lattice parameters compared to the CePO 4 . The total electrical conductivity plots obtained from impedance spectra, between 300 and 450 °C, indicated that the activation energies for CePO 4 , Ce 0.9 Cd 0.15 PO 4 , Ce 0.9 Cd 0.13 Li 0.04 PO 4 are 1.05, 0.99 and 0.72 eV, respectively, showing an increase of the total conductivity as Li-content increases. The conduction mechanism is described using correlated barrier hopping model. The partial substitution leads to the improvement capacity when increasing the Li-content from 65F·g −1 for Ce 0.9 Cd 0.15 PO 4 to 75F·g −1 for Ce 0.9 Cd 0.13 Li 0.04 PO 4 .