pH-responsive lyotropic liquid crystals for the preparation of pure cubic zirconia nanoparticles

We present a lyotropic liquid crystal system consisting of SDS/Triton X-100/water at 25 °C. This system is respond to pH variations with a phase switch. When pH is altered from alkaline (pH 13) to acidic (pH 2) conditions, phase change occurs from a bicontinuous hexagonal phase to a partially hexagonal phase until it disappears. The hexagonal phase under alkaline conditions is stable. Thus, this system is an ideal candidate for the preparation of pure cubic ZrO2 nanoparticles. XRD results confirm that the as-synthesized powder is composed of pure cubic ZrO2. These nanoparticles also exhibit a thermal stability of up to 800 °C. The size and morphological characteristics of the nanoparticles are greatly affected by ZrOCl2 concentration. The mechanism of zirconia nanoparticle synthesis in a lyotropic hexagonal phase was proposed.