Preparation of Zirconia Nanoparticles with Different Morphology Using Lyotropic Liquid Crystal Template

Zirconia nanoparticles were prepared using ZrOCl₂·8H₂O and NH₃·H₂O as raw materials in the lyotropic hexagonal phase consisting of SDS/TritonX-100/H₂O. Effects of pH on the phase structure stability of the template were determined. Effect of ZrOCl₂ concentration on the size and morphology of zirconia were discussed. Polarizing optical microscopy was applied to investigate the stability of the hexagonal phase. The size and morphology of the nanoparticles were characterized by SEM, TEM and particle size analyzer. The crystalline structure and purity of the sample were characterized by XRD. In addition, the synthetic mechanism of zirconia nanoparticles in the lyotropic hexagonal phase were proposed by FT-IR. The results show that the hexagonal phase is stable in the condition of alkalinity and the hexagonal phase texture disappear in the conditions of acid; the size and morphology of the nanoparticles obtained are greatly affected by concentration of ZrOCl₂. Morphology of samples changes from spherical-like particle to cotton-like particle with the increase of the concentration of ZrOCl₂; the mechanism analysisresults show that complexation reaction between the precursor of the sample and the template does not occur, and crystal growth and nucleation of the zirconia nanoparticles are limited by a direct template route in the hexagonal phase lyotropic liquid crystal