Abstract:
The mesoporous silica (mSiO
2) microspheres were grafted with the Sm-doped CeO
2 nanoparticles via a facile and efficient co-precipitation approach. The uniform non-rigid mSiO
2@Ce
1-xSmxO2(x=0, 0.23) composite particles with a well-defined core-shell structure were obtained. The resulting samples were characterized in terms of powder XRD, SEM, HRTEM, STEM-EDX Mapping, Raman, and N2 adsorption-desorption measurements. The effects of Sm doping on the polishing performance of mSiO2@Ce1-xSmxO2(x=0, 0.23) composite abrasives were evaluated using AFM and three-dimensional noncontact interferometric microscope. The ultra-precision and high-efficiency polishing mechanisms of the Sm-doped abrasives were also discussed. The polishing results show that the Sm doping contributes to 36% increment of the removal rate which is 84 nm/min compared to the undoped composites. The Sm-doped abrasives achieve an atomic-scale surface finish, and the average roughness and root-mean-square roughness of the polished SiO2 films are 1.4 and 0.17 nm, respectively.