Characterization of hydrothermaly synthesized zirconia nanopowders

Abstract

In this paper,a hydrothermal method for synthesis of zirconia nanopowders: pure and with incorporated Si4+ions is presented. Zirconyl chloride and tetraethyl orthosilicate were used as precursors. As prepared powders were annealed at 600 °C and their structural (XRD), morphological (TEM) and textural (BET method) properties were obtained.It has been shown that by using hydrothermal synthesis method pure monoclinic ZrO2highly crystalline powder can be obtainedwithcrystallites of about 25nm. Incorporation of Si4+ions induced stabilization of tetragonal crystalline phase at room temperature, decreasing particle sizes to about 3-6 nm and increasing specific surface area of nanopowders.