Cerium oxide (CeO2) is a relatively important light rare earth product. Because of its special properties, it is widely used in the industrial sector, the amount of it is increasing rapidly, and the prospect is broad.At the end of the 1950s, my country's research on CeO2 products was successful.In the 1960s and 1970s, because of its wide application in military use, it gradually moved towards the level of industrialized production, and it was able to supply users in small quantities.In the 1980s, it was used in various industrial sectors.Since the 1990s, my country's CeO2 production methods have been diversified, the industrialization has expanded, the output has increased greatly, and the quality has improved, and it can meet the requirements of domestic and foreign markets in large quantities.At present, my country's CeO2 production process is mature, the output ranks first in the world, and the export volume and quality are in the forefront of the world, and occupy a leading position among the world's counterparts.Over the years, my country's CeO2 has been widely used in various industrial sectors, and its consumption has been increasing.At present, CeO2 has achieved good results in the application of glass, ceramics, luminescent materials, automobile exhaust purification and metal cerium production.

(1) Application in luminescent materials Rare earth three primary color phosphors are luminescent materials for the production of energy-saving lamps, which are composed of blue powder (10%), green powder (30%) and red powder (60%), etc. Composition, in which the red powder is made of Y2O3 and CeO2.CeO299.99% is added as an additive.This phosphor has the characteristics of high light efficiency, good color rendering and long life.Compared with incandescent lamps, energy-saving lamps can save electricity by 75%-80%.In addition, CeO2 is added to the phosphor powder used in flying point cathode ray tubes, indicator lights and radiation detectors as an activator, which is also promising.

(2) In the application of purifying automobile exhaust, the oil-burning automobile emits a large amount of harmful exhaust during driving, which contains carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOX) and hydrocarbons (HC). These three poisons are harmful to the atmosphere. The danger is serious.At present, there are ternary noble metal (Pt, Rh, Pd) catalysts, palladium rare earth catalysts and rare earth catalysts for purifying these poisons.These three catalysts all need to add CeO2 to improve the amount of catalyst to 1-10%.The practice shows that adding CeO2 to the catalyst can increase the activity of the catalyst to increase the purification rate of poisons; improve the anti-poison ability of the catalyst; increase the strength of the catalyst by 15% to 25%.

(3) Application in ceramics—Change the lattice parameters, dielectric properties and piezoelectricity of ceramics to make the sintered density of PbTiO5 ceramics reach 96% of the theoretical value, which is more suitable for high-sensitivity, high-resolution ultrasonic transducers.After adding CeO2 to Pb (Zr, Ti) O3 ceramics, in order to adjust and change the internal components of the ceramics, the sinterability, dielectric and piezoelectric properties of the ceramics can be improved to meet different practical requirements.After adding CeO2 in PZT ceramics, the volume resistivity of the ceramics is increased, and the potential piezoelectric properties can be brought into play.After adding CeO2 to the ceramic coloring pigment, the pigment can have the advantages of bright color, stability, good high temperature performance, and uniform color rendering.It is suitable for the top and bottom of ceramic glaze, porcelain color glaze, pottery color glaze and fine pottery color glaze, etc.

(4) Application in glass industry 

1) Advanced cerium polishing powder.The high-cerium polishing powder made of CeO2≥99% has good performance, such as high hardness, fine and uniform particle size and face-centered cubic crystal with water chestnut, which is used for high-speed polishing of glass.Compared with the traditional iron polishing powder (iron red Fe2O3), the activity is strong, and the polishing rate is increased by 3-4 times; the polishing powder is used in less amount and has a long service life, and the qualified rate of polished parts is increased by 30%; the polishing finish is high and easy to clean No pollution to the polishing environment, good working conditions.

(2) Decolorizer for glass.Generally, the glass contains iron ions (Fe2+), which will make the glass appear green.Because CeO2 has a strong deoxidation ability and has a strong oxidation effect on iron, it is recommended that when CeO2 is added to the glass (with 0.1% CeO2), the "green" ferrous iron (Fe) in the glass will be oxidized to "free". Color "ferric iron (Fe3+), which improves the quality of the glass, which is called a decolorizer.This decolorization technique is extremely important in glass manufacturing.

(3) Anti-radiation glass.Some glass can have anti-radiation properties that can absorb a large amount of slow neutrons after adding certain oxides, among which the addition of CeO2 is a better one, such as anti-radiation glass after being irradiated by gamma rays, its visible light The decrease in light transmittance is small.Generally, the glass can prevent 105-107 γ-ray radiation after adding CeO20.1-1.6. 

The radiation-proof glass with this property can be used as the observation hole material and optical instrument of atomic energy facilities.Glass covers for solar cells can also be made.In addition, CeO2 can also be used as a clarifying agent for glass, and can also be used to make goggle glass for electric welding, sunglasses glass, photochromic glass and colored glass.CeO2 is a relatively good additive material in the glass industry, and its development prospect is good.Generally, after adding CeO2 to fine ceramics, the sinterability, density, microstructure and phase composition of the ceramics can be improved to improve the quality and performance of the ceramics to meet the practical requirements.