Preparation of a CeO2-nanoparticle thermal radiation shield coating on ZrO2 fibers via a hydrothermal method

Abstract For the first time, a uniform CeO 2 -nanoparticle coating was deposited onto the surface of submicron ZrO 2 fibers via a hydrothermal method to reflect and scatter radiation in the infrared region to reduce the heat transfer. The crystal phase, microstructure and optical properties of the obtained heterostructure were examined using XRD, SEM, TEM, EDS and FT-IR techniques. The results show that the CeO 2 coating consists of nanoparticles with a grain size of 18 nm and that the coating thickness can be controlled through adjusting the hydrothermal temperature and time. The CeO 2 coating uniformly deposited on the surface of the ZrO 2 fibers with good thermal stability can be used as a radiative reflective coating. The effective specific extinction (e*) was enhanced due to the high reflectivity and high scattering of the CeO 2 particles. A thicker coating resulted in a stronger infrared extinction capability in the sample. Moreover, the coated fibers have higher e* values than the uncoated fibers at high temperatures. When the fibers were coated with a thickness of 155 nm, the average value of e* at 1200 °C was improved by approximately 2 times compared with that of the uncoated fibers in the wavelength range of 2.5–10 µm.