Acoustic Vibrations of Monoclinic Zirconia Nanocrystals

Polarized low-frequency Raman spectra originating from confined acoustic vibrations are reported for monoclinic ZrO2 nanoparticles with a narrow size distribution synthesized from a continuous supercritical water process. The monoclinic lattice structure is taken into account for the interpretation of the spectra by comparing with isotropic and anisotropic continuum elasticity calculations for monodomain nanocrystals. The various mechanisms leading to the broadening of the Raman peaks are discussed. We demonstrate that an accurate determination of the size distribution of the nanoparticles is possible using the Raman peak due to the fundamental breathing vibration which is hardly broadened by the elastic anisotropy and the shape distribution.