Abstract

SIDDIQUI, Mohammed Rafiq Hussain; AL-WASSIL, Abdulaziz Ibrahim; AL-OTAIBI, Abdullah Mohmmed  and  MAHFOUZ, Refaat Mohamad. Effects of precursor on the morphology and size of ZrO₂ nanoparticles, synthesized by sol-gel method in non-aqueous medium. Mat. Res. [online]. 2012, vol.15, n.6, pp. 986-989.  Epub Oct 09, 2012. ISSN 1516-1439.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1516-14392012005000128.

Pure zirconium oxide (ZrO₂) nanoparticles with diameters 10-25 nm were synthesized from ZrOCl₂.8H₂O and Zr(SO₄)₂.H₂O with benzyl alcohol as non-aqueous solvent medium using sol-gel method. Sodium lauryl sulfate was added as surfactants to control the particle size. The synthesized ZrO₂ nanoparticles have a mixture of tetragonal and monoclinic structure. The XRD showed the purity of obtained ZrO₂ nanoparticles with tetragonal and monoclinic phase and the crystallite size for ZrOCl₂.8H₂O precursor was estimated to be 18.1 nm and that from Zr(SO₄)₂.H₂O was 9.7 nm. The transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopic studies also shows different sizes of nanoparticles and different morphology depending on the precursor used for the synthesis of ZrO₂ nanoparticles

Keywords : zirconia; nanoparticles; electron microscopy; precursor; morphology.