The synthesis, characterization and electrochemical study of zirconia oxide nanoparticles for fuel cell application

The synthesis temperature of zirconium oxide nanoparticles was varied during the reaction in order to observe its influence on the crystallinity and particle size of zirconium oxide particles. Zirconium oxide synthesized by the precipitation method resulted in relatively small particle size with small distance between the lattice fringes (0.2928 nm and 0.2824 nm) as observed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. These smaller crystallite size with clear lattice fringes play an important role in water retention within the Nafion (R) matrix, which will result in enhanced proton conductivity, mechanical and chemical stability. The obtained XRD and TGA results shows the formation of single-phase c-ZrO2 and m-ZrO2 crystals with the stable TGA at higher temperature. The BET results of zirconia nanoparticles obtained a narrow porosity due to high synthesis temperature. ZrO2 nanoparticles obtained good electrochemical performance, good stability and good ion flow when observed under electrochemical test.