Nano crystalline ZrO2, La2O3 and CeO2: synthesis, characterization and their properties

It is well known that a minor addition of rare earth oxides can provide a beneficial effect towards various catalytic reactions. Use of rare earth oxide in different applications could improve commercial productivity in an affordable way. Among the rare earth oxides, ZrO2, La2O3 and CeO2 are very interesting due to their various characteristics showing a large range of applications inorganic reactions. The changes in the molecular properties of materials at the nanoscale level greatly enhance their physical properties as well as chemical properties and activity. Due to the extremely small size of the particles, an increased surface area is provided to the reactant enabling more molecules to react at the same time, thereby speeding up the process. In this work, the enhancement in the catalytic activity of these nano structured rare earth oxides has been studied under different reaction conditions. Nanocrystalline ZrO2, La2O3 and CeO2 samples were synthesized using precipitation method and optimum reaction conditions have been established; whereas the corresponding bulk samples were synthesized by combustion method. The identification of phase and crystalline size of synthesized oxides have been established by X-ray diffraction and surface area has been determined by gas adsorption analysis (BET). Moreover their different properties and the activity of nano crystalline oxides have also been compared with their bulk counterparts. Even the activity of ZrO2 is also compare with the rare earth oxides La2O3 and CeO2. (author)