Microstructure evolution in 200-MeV Xe ion irradiated CeO2 doped with Gd2O3

The microstructure of virgin and heavy ion-irradiated Ce1–xGdxO2–x/2 with a wide range of Gd dopant concentrations (0 ≤ xGd ≤ 0.5) was evaluated by x-ray diffraction (XRD), micro-Raman spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) for selected area electron diffraction (SAED) analysis and plane-view bright-field (BF) imaging of ion tracks. The Ce1–xGdxO2–x/2 samples were irradiated with 200-MeV Xe14+ ions up to fluences from 3 × 1011 to 1 × 1013 cm−2 at ambient temperature. XRD patterns of the virgin Ce1–xGdxO2–x/2 samples showed saturation of lattice parameter and relaxation of microstrain in Ce1–xGdxO2–x/2 which are attributed to the increasing Gd concentration. Moreover, micro-Raman spectroscopy and SAED patterns revealed the bixbyite (C-type) structure formation and oxygen vacancy ordering for xGd > 0.2 that is induced by dispersed C-type domains in the fluorite-structured (F-type) matrix. In the irradiated samples, asymmetric XRD peaks induced by lattice distortion were observed together with ion tracks in BF-TEM images. The radiation damage was recovered with the increase of Gd concentration. There is a rapid reduction of radiation damage cross section for xGd > 0.2 with a reduction of the C-type structure reflections in XRD and SAED patterns.