Effect of doping of iron on structural, optical and magnetic properties of CeO2 nanoparticles

[Display omitted] •Effect of doping of iron on structural, optical and magnetic properties of CeO2 nanoparticle (nps) were prepared by co-precipitation method.•Explore the various physicochemical properties and characterization of XRD, XPS analysis and UV–vis spectrometer.•Magnetic studies were done for the Observed ferromagnetic results more support this phenomenon. CeO2, 0.5 Fe/CeO2, 1 % Fe/CeO2, 3 % Fe/CeO2, and 5 % Fe/CeO2 nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared by simple chemical co-precipitation route. The structural, morphological, and compositional analysis of the prepared samples were studied. The pristine CeO2 is diamagnetic whereas doped samples of Fe with CeO2 enhance ferromagnetism in CeO2 and the hysteresis area increases up to 5 mol % of Fe. Hence, to induce a ferromagnetic behaviour in CeO2 NPs, 5 mol % of Fe is found to be optimum. The presence of Fe3+ as found from the XPS chemical analysis to acts as an electron acceptor and/or hole donor, facilitating longer charge carrier separation in Fe-doped CeO2.