Preparation of copper ion doped strontium zirconate and its infrared emission characteristics

Cu2+ doped SrZrO3 (SrZr1-xCuxO3, x = 0, 0.01, 0.03, 0.05 and 0.07) perovskite powders were prepared by sol-gel method with Zr(NO3)4·5H2O, Sr(NO3)2 and Cu(NO3)2·2.5H2O as raw material. The influence of the ratio of metal ion to citric acid, pH value, and calcination temperature on the synthesis of high-purity SrZrO3 powder and the infrared emissivity characteristics of the synthesized material was systematically studied. XRD, XPS, FT-IR and dual-band emittance measuring instrument were used to study the phase composition, microstructure of the sample and the effect of copper ion doping on the infrared emittance of SrZrO3 at 3–5 μm. The results show that the infrared emissivity of SrZrO3 doped with Cu2+ is lower than that of SrZrO3. When x = 0.03, the infrared emissivity at room temperature of 3∼5 μm reaches the lowest value of 0.4259. With the increase of temperature and time, SrZr1-xCuxO3 showed better thermal infrared properties, and the samples all showed weak thermal infrared intensity, and the surface temperature was lower than the background temperature and relatively stable. These findings suggest that Cu2+-doped SrZrO3 holds great potential as a promising candidate material for infrared stealth applications. The novelties of this work are as follows:•High-temperature infrared stealth materials can be applied to high-temperature parts such as military aircraft engines, which plays a very important role in ensuring the safety of aircraft. SrZrO3 and Cu2+ doped SrZrO3 powder was prepared by sol-gel method. The influence of the metal ion to citric acid ratio, pH value, and calcination temperature on the synthesis of high-purity SrZrO3 powder was systematically studied. Optimal conditions for the preparation of SrZrO3 were obtained.•In order to obtain infrared stealth materials with higher stealth performance, we constructed a copper-ion doped strontium zirconate material system. A series of Cu2+ doped SrZrO3 were fabricated and the phase composition, microstructure, grain size of the samples were investigated using XRD, SEM, XPS, FT-IR and nanometer particle size and Zeta potential analyzer.•The Infrared stealth characteristic of synthetic materials were investigated. It was observed that Cu2+ doped SrZrO3 exhibited lower infrared emissivity compared to pure SrZrO3. Notably, when x = 0.03, the infrared emissivity at room temperature within the range of 3∼5 μm reached its lowest value, measuring 0.4259. With the increase of temperature and time, SrZr1-xC