Glycothermal synthesis of nanocrystalline ZrO2 powders at low temperature without mineralizers

Zirconia (ZrO2) nanoparticles were synthesized at temperature as low as 200°C through a glycothermal reaction using amorphous zirconium hydrous gel precursors and 1,4-butanediol as solvent, XRD and TEM data support that glycothermal processing method provides a simple low temperature route for producing highly crystallized ZrO2 nanoparticles without mineralizers, which could also be extended to other systems. XRD results also showed that ZrO2 nanoparticles synthesized in glycothermal condition had tetragonal phase with small portion of monoclinic phase, where the tetragonality was confirmed by Raman spectroscopy. The as-prepared ZrO2 nanoparticles have spherical morphology with an average crystal size of 10–15 nm and agglomerated into bigger spheres with a diameter of about 100 nm. The tetragonal phase begins to transform to monoclinic phase at 600°C when the calcinations of the as-synthesized powder was carried out.