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Ultrasonic mist chemical vapour deposition (UM-CVD) system has been developed to prepare ZnO nanopowder. This is a promising method for large area deposition at low temperature inspite of being simple, inexpensive and safe. The particle size, lattice parameters and crystal structure of ZnO nanopowder are characterized by in situ high temperature X-ray diffraction (XRD). Surface morphology of powder was studied using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and field emission electron microscope (FESEM). The optical properties are observed using UV-visible spectrophotometer. The influence of high temperature vacuum annealing on XRD pattern is systematically studied. Results of high temperature XRD showed prominent 100, 002 and 101 reflections among which 101 is of highest intensity. With increase in temperature, a systematic shift in peak positions towards lower 2θ values has been observed, which may be due to change in lattice parameters. Temperature dependence of lattice constants under vacuum shows linear increase in their values. Diffraction patterns obtained from TEM are also in agreement with the XRD data. The synthesized powder exhibited the estimated direct bandgap (E g ) of 3⋅43 eV. The optical bandgap calculated from Tauc's relation and the bandgap calculated from the particle size inferred from XRD were in agreement with each other.

A template-free precipitation method was used as a simple and low cost method for preparation of CeO2 nanoparticles. The structure and morphology of the prepared nanoparticle samples were studied in detail using X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) measurements. The whole powder pattern modelling (WPPM) method was applied on XRD data to accurately measure the crystalline domain size and their size distribution. The average crystalline domain diameter was found to be 5.2 nm, with a very narrow size distribution. UV-visible absorbance spectrum was used to calculate the optical energy band gap of the prepared CeO2 nanoparticles. The FT-IR spectrum of prepared CeO2 nanoparticles showed absorption bands at 400 cm-1 to 450 cm-1 regime, which correspond to CeO2 stretching vibration. The dielectric constant (εr) and dielectric loss (tan δ) values of sintered CeO2 compact consolidated from prepared nanoparticles were measured at different temperatures in the range from 298 K (room temperature) to 623 K, and at different frequencies from 1 kHz to 1 MHz.

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