Morphologies and magnetic properties of La-doped CeO2 nanoparticles by the solvothermal method in a low magnetic field

La-doped CeO2 nanoparticles were prepared successfully by the solvothermal method. The effects of La dopant concentration and an external magnetic field of 0.8T on the morphologies and magnetic properties of La-doped nanoparticles were researched. The results showed that La-doped CeO2 nanoparticles had a face centered cubic lattice structure and La rare earth ions had been substituted into the CeO2 crystal lattice. At 5 wt% La dopant, the nanoparticles showed the flake shape. When the La dopant concentration was 30 wt%, a small number of nanorods appeared in the morphology. When the La dopant concentration reached 40 wt%, the nanoparticles basically consisted of nanorods. Interestingly, when an external magnetic field of 0.8T was applied during the reaction process, it was found that the nanoparticles consisted of nanorods at the 30 wt% La dopant concentration. The introduction of external magnetic field promoted the formation of nanorods. There existed the weak ferromagnetic behavior in the La-doped CeO2 nanoparticles. The morphology evolution of nanoparticles had an important effect on their magnetic properties.