Resolving a structural issue in cerium-nickel-based oxide: a single compound or a two-phase system?

CeNiO has been reported in the literature in the last few years as a novel LnNiO compound with promising applications in different catalytic fields, but its structure has not been correctly reported so far. In this research, CeNiO (RB1), CeO and NiO have been synthesized in a nanocrystalline form using a modified citrate aqueous sol-gel route. A direct comparison between the equimolar physical mixture ((CeO) : (NiO) = 1 : 1) and compound RB1 was made.