Formation of nano-sized cubic zirconia by aqueous sol–gel route

Nanocrystalline cubic zirconia particles were synthesized from [Zr{OPr i } 4 ] ( A ), [Zr{OPr i } 3 {ONC 9 H 6 }] (1) and [Zr{OPr i } 2 {ONC 9 H 6 } 2 ] (2) {where, ONC 9 H 6 = 8-hydroxyquinoline } . Formation of all the precursors was confirmed by elemental analysis, FT-IR and NMR ( 1 H and 13 C). The thermal stability of complexes (1) and (2) has been studied by thermal gravimetric analysis. Zirconia samples (a), (b), and (c) were formed by aqueous sol–gel transformations of ( A ), (1) and (2), respectively. All the oxide samples were characterized for its phase, crystallite size, and strain present by XRD and TEM. Surface morphologies of all the samples were investigated by SEM. Selected area diffraction (SAED) of (b) and (c) was done to confirm the results of XRD. The absorption spectra of oxide samples, (a), (b), and (c) show energy band gap of 3.17, 4.10, and 4.13 eV, respectively.