ZrO₂ Nanoparticles Synthesized using Ionic Liquid Microemulsion

The water‐in‐ionic liquid (W/IL) microemulsion has been used to prepare the tetragonal ZrO₂ nanoparticles. A number of anomalous spherical dispersed particles have been obtained. However, the ZrO₂ nanoparticles synthesized using traditional water‐in‐xylene (W/O) microemulsion show an obvious fusion trace, indicating that the congregation takes place when the precursor was calcined. High thermostable ionic liquid may act as a protector to prevent the congregation of product. The samples are further characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, and UV‐Vis spectroscopy. The results suggest that the obtained product has high degree of crystallinity and a narrow size distribution (15–40 nm). The XRD pattern has indicated a typical tetragonal crystal structure of ZrO₂. Moreover, the UV‐Vis absorption of the samples also shows the otential advantage in an application of screening ultraviolet radiation.

Keywords:

• ZrO₂
• nanoparticles
• ionic liquid
• microemulsion

This research is financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 50472069), and the Department of Science and Technology of Shandong Province (No. Z2004B02).