Effects of precursor on the morphology and size of ZrO2 nanoparticles, synthesized by sol-gel method in non-aqueous medium

Abstract

Pure zirconium oxide (ZrO2) nanoparticles with diameters 10-25 nm were synthesized from ZrOCl2.8H2O and Zr(SO 4)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. © 2012.