Microwave-assisted rapid synthesis of hexagonal α-zirconium phosphate nanodisks as a Pickering emulsion stabilizer

• Highly-crystallized α-ZrP nanodisks are synthesized via microwave for the first time..
• The α-ZrP nanodisks are very uniform in size.
• Exfoliated α-ZrP nanodisks are good Pickering emulsion stabilizer for various applications.

It is the first time that a rapid microwave-assisted method was developed to synthesize alpha phase of zirconium phosphate (α-ZrP). The dimension and thickness of α-ZrP nanodisks were varied by altering the concentration of added phosphoric acid. In addition, laminar structure of α-ZrP can be exfoliated into monolayers to provide with more surface area by intercalating tetrabutylammonium hydroxide. The results revealed that uniform and highly-crystallized α-ZrP nanodisks were obtained in an efficient manner and could be utilized as a Pickering emulsion stabilizer after exfoliation.

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