Facile synthesis and characterization of monocrystalline cubic ZrO2 nanoparticles

Crystalline ZrO2 nanoparticles were prepared from zirconium isopropoxide by slow hydrolysis and subsequent hydrothermal treatment of solutions containing various amounts of sodium hydroxide at 180 °C. Whereas moderately basic solutions lead to the formation of nanoparticles of monoclinic ZrO2 with plate-like morphology, and nanoparticles of the cubic ZrO2 high-temperature polymorph with diameters of approx. 5 nm were obtained from strongly basic solutions. The morphology, structure and properties of as-synthesized nanoparticles were characterized using HRTEM, XRD, Raman spectroscopy, UV–vis, PL spectroscopy and BET measurements. The formation of both, the monoclinic and the cubic polymorph, was confirmed by electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The crystallinity and morphology of the resulting ZrO2 nanoparticles can be adjusted by the choice of the reaction conditions. The cubic ZrO2 nanoparticles have a high surface area (300 m2/g) and exhibit a strong photoluminescence in the UV region.

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