Preparation and characterization of Ce0.95Zr0.05O2 nanopowders obtained by solegel and template methods

Abstract

Ce0.95Zr0.05O2 nanopowders have been prepared by a standard Pechini-type solegel process and by using polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) colloidal crystals as template. The effects of these different synthesis routes, on the structure and microstructural features of the nanopowders, were evaluated by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and specific surface area measurements. For both preparation routes, the XRD analysis has shown that a cubic fluorite structure is formed with a crystallite size of w45e50 nm. The SEM images indicate that the powder obtained by the solegel Pechini-type process, is constituted by aggregated nanoparticles with relatively uniform shape and size, whereas the powder synthesized as inverse opal exhibits the formation of macropores with a mean size of w130 nm. The specific surface areas of the powder samples obtained by the Pechini-type solegel and inverse opal methods are w56 m2 g 1 and w90 m2 g 1 respectively. Additionally, the thermoluminescence (TL) signal of the synthetized samples has been measured in order to examine its potential application in the field of dosimetry of ionizing radiations.