engleski

Pure and zinc doped ceria nanopowders as UV filters in sunscreens

Aside from environmental and energy related applications, ceria (CeO2) possesses great potential as a sunscreen ingredient because it absorbs UV radiation while being relatively transparent to visible light. Additionally, it has lower photocatalytic activity in comparison to titania and zinc oxide which are currently main inorganic UV-blocking filters used in cosmetic industry. The problem is its high catalytic activity for oxidation of organic materials. The general idea of this work is to incorporate zinc into the ceria crystal lattice in order to get the advantages of both compounds in one material. Pure and zinc doped ceria were prepared by hydrothermal synthesis and characterized using transmission electron microscopy, electron energy lost spectroscopy, X- ray diffraction and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Fine ceria and doped ceria nanoparticles with particle sizes around 6 nm and band gap values of 3.23 and 3.14 eV were prepared. Their catalytic activity, as well cell toxicity in comparison to TiO2 was also evaluated. The results indicate that prepared nanoparticles show no difference in cell viability and are biocompatible with human skin, while also being catalytically inactive, making them potential candidates for a new type of UV filters in sunscreens.

doped ceria ; citotoxicity ; catalytic activity

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