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Reverse Micelle synthesis of Zirconia nanopowders

Harpreet Singh 1Olivia A. Graeve 

1. University of Nevada at Reno (UNR), 1664 North Virginia st, Reno, NV 89503, United States

Abstract

Pure zirconia nanoparticles were obtained using a Reverse Micelle (RM)
synthesis technique. The objective of this study was to obtain the smallest
possible ZrO2 nanoparticles with minimum possible agglomeration. In this
investigation, XRD results show that ZrO2 nanoparticles are in the range of
5 - 20 nm. As synthesized powders were cubic/tetragonal and were relatively X-ray amorphous. It was also found that a metastable tetragonal phase exists at temperature of < 600C. The metastable tetragonal ZrO2 transformed to monoclinic phase after ~ 360 hours. This shows that even the particles < 20 nm are metastable which is in contrast to some earlier studies. For further insight, TEM analysis of the particles will be conducted. The size of the nanoparticles was influenced by the amount of water and the synthesis conditions such as temperature. RM technique can be further utilized to produce partially stabilized zirconia and fully stabilized zirconia by co-precipitation of the stabilizing species. ZrO2 nanoparticles have immense potential as solid electrolytes in fuel cells, oxygen sensors, etc.

 

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Presentation: oral at E-MRS Fall Meeting 2004, Symposium A, by Harpreet Singh
See On-line Journal of E-MRS Fall Meeting 2004

Submitted: 2004-03-27 22:24
Revised:   2009-06-08 12:55