Abstract
The present study reports the experimental results regarding the effect of molar ratio of hydrolysis water used in the sol-gel synthesis upon the structure of zirconia. The ZrO2 materials were synthesized via simple metal-chelate route using zirconium n-propoxide [Zr(OCH2CH2CH3)4], n-propanol, acetic acid, and deionized water. Thermogravimetric analysis and infrared spectroscopy were performed to evaluate the structural evolution upon samples heating; the complete removal of organic compounds at 330 °C was verified. The results of X-ray diffraction showed that the calcination temperature of 400 °C was enough to the crystallization of the metastable tetragonal zirconia phase. Nitrogen adsorption-desorption measurements indicated that the textural properties of zirconia were affected by the water content used in the synthesis, and the highest surface area was achieved when the water molar ratio of 4 was used.
Keywords:
zirconia; sol-gel; metal-chelate route; hydrolysis water
