Sol-gel zirconia-based nanopowders with potential applications for sensors

The aim of the present work was to prepare zirconia-based nanopowders using the sol-gel method. Both gelatin as structure directing agent and Ce as dopant have been used, in order to create nanostructures with active surface, able to confer optical properties to the obtained materials. Different characterization methods (thermal analysis, infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, BET surface area and porosity and fluorescence assay) have been used to establish the effects of organic additive and dopant on the properties of the obtained nanopowders. They revealed that all the prepared powders are nanometric and consist only of monoclinic ZrO2, except the Ce-doped one, where a Zr1−xCexO2 type solid solution was assumed to be formed. The sensor platform abilities of the nanopowders have been tested using Rhodamine B as fluorescent detector. It was demonstrated that both gelatin as template (due to pores generation) and Ce as dopant (due to induced lattice defects) influence the optical properties of the obtained oxide powders. This allows us to consider them interesting candidates for the sensors platform.