Synthesis, ion exchange properties, analytical and catalytic applications of nano sized cerium zirconium phosphate

Post Graduate and Research Department of Chemistry, Sree Narayana College, Thottada P.O., Kannur-670 007, Kerala, India E-mail : preethaba@gmail.com, jeeje_dianthus@yahoo.com Manuscript received 02 February 2010, revised 09 June 2010, accepted 25 February 2011 A novel inorganic cation exchange material, cerium zirconium phosphate (CZP) has been synthesized. Chemical composition of the compound was determined by ICP-AES method and structural studies were carried out using TGA, XRD and FTIR. From these, the formula of the exchanger is found to be CeO2.2ZrO2.1.2SP2O5.14H20. Properties like ion exchange capacity, pH titration, distribution coefficients for various metal ions, and the effect of ionic radii on ion exchange capacity have been studied. The results suggest that chemically resistive CZP is a promising inorganic cation exchanger in analytical and environmental chemistry. Distribution studies showed that the selectivity of the material towards various metal ions was in the order PbII > CuII > ZnII > MnII > CdII > YIII > BiIII > CoII > NiII > caII > AiIII > ThiV > NgII, Based on this, binary separation of Pb2+ and Cu2+ from Hg2+ and Th4+ were carried out on a column of the exchanger. The presence of protons contained In structural hydroxyl groups indicates good potential for application in solid acid catalysis and hydrolysis of sucrose was carried out for catalytic activity studies of the material