Grain Size and Temperature-Dependent Response of 5-mol% Gd-Doped Ceria to Swift Heavy Ion Irradiation with 80 MeV Ag and 120 MeV Au Ions

TL;DR

This study investigates how grain size, ion energy, and temperature influence the damage response of Gd-doped ceria under swift heavy ion irradiation, revealing bulk stability and ion track formation mechanisms.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the effects of grain size and temperature on ion irradiation damage in Gd-doped ceria, supported by experimental and simulation data.

Findings

Bulk grains are more stable against irradiation damage.

Ion tracks are formed due to electronic excitation.

High temperature influences damage response.

Abstract

The response of 5-mol% Gd-doped ceria to swift heavy ion beam irradiation has been studied to observe the effects of changes in ion energies and environmental temperature. The study involved irradiating two different grain sizes (nano and bulk) with two different ion energies: 80 MeV Ag and 120 MeV Au. Additionally, a comprehensive analysis of Gd-doped ceria's response to ion beam irradiation at high temperatures (1000 K) was conducted, taking into account the effect of grain size dependency. Based on GIXRD and Raman spectroscopy, it is evident that electronic excitation from 80 MeV Ag and 120 MeV Au ions at a fluence $1 \times 10^{14}$ ions/cm$^2$ caused damage to Gd-doped ceria samples. However, bulk grain size shows significant stability against SHI in all cases. These findings align with thermal spike simulations and indicate the formation of ion tracks due to electronic excitation by Swift Heavy Ion beam irradiation.