Synthesis and characterization of ZrO2 hollow spheres

ZrO2 hollow microspheres with the average diameter of about 500 nm and the shell thickness of about 50 nm were synthesized by a facile technique using carbon spheres as templates. The corresponding ZrO2 hollow microspheres were obtained by calcining the precursors of C-Zr(OH)(4) core-shell heterostructures, which were synthesized with the precipitation of ZrCl4 solution with aqueous ammonia on the surface of colloid carbons. SEM, XRD, TGA and BET were used to characterize the composition, morphology, size and crystal structure of synthesized products. The effects of ultrasonic dispersion and separation process on the hollow spheres were studied, and the surfactant PEG-1000 was added to tune the shell structure of synthesized ZrO2 hollow spheres. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.