SURFACTANT-ASSISTED SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF SILICA-DOPED ZIRCONIA AND ITS APPLICATION IN CHROMIUM REMOVAL

Purpose of taking silica-doped zirconia system was aimed to obtain high surface area, temperature stability which possibly shows novel catalytic, adsorption behaviour as well. A novel synthesis of silica-doped zirconia nanoparticles with 5, 10, 15, and 20 mol% silica have been prepared by co-precipitation method. X-ray diffraction analysis indicates the transformation of monoclinic to tetragonal phase of zirconia in the presence of silica at higher temperature. Moreover from UV analysis it confirms the formation of t-phase. FT-IR analysis has been used to elucidate the presence of Si-O-Zr bond, Si-O-Si network in silica-doped zirconia nanopowder.