Effects of composition and calcination temperature on morphology and structure of barium modified zirconia nanoparticles

Co-precipitation of zirconyl chloride and barium chloride followed by supercritical ethanol drying was used to synthesize the barium modified zirconia nanoparticles. BET surface area, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements were employed for structural and morphological characterization. Crystallite particles of ∼10 to 50 nm in size with cross-linking boundaries were formed during heat treatment. Results show that the uniform crystallite nanoparticles are generated and stabilized when Ba content is in a intermediate range whereas higher content of barium results in the growth of the nanoparticles into larger micro-scale grains with smeared boundaries at elevated temperature.