Synthesis and Characterization of Ce1-xZrxO2 Nanopaticles

Abstract

A series of crystalline Ce1-xZrxO2 nanoparticles (where x = 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1.0) have been prepared by (i) hydrothermal (ii) polymer based metal-complex precursor solution reactions. Hydrothermal method was performed with diethanol amine as hydrolysis catalyst. The effect of reaction conditions on the size of particles and their morphology were investigated. In the polymer based method, by calcination of suitable polymer precursor solutions at a temperature range between 300 and 450 °C along with variation in the period of time, the metal oxide powders were subsequently obtained. The prepared powders have been characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) .These studies reveled that zirconium is a good host for insertion into Cerium oxide in fluorite structure. The as-prepared samples were further characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The average diameter of the nanoparticles were calculated from line broadening of XRD peaks and confirmed by SEM and TEM studies.