Improving dispersion stability of zirconium hydroxide sol for preparing nano zirconia by the reverse precipitation

Zirconium hydroxide sol was prepared by the reverse precipitation method with ZrOCl2 solution as raw material and the processing condition of the zirconium hydroxide sol was investigated. When the saturated absorption amount of the surfactant was 1.0 wt%, the pH value for the highest stability was shifted from 7.9 to 9.3 and the pH range for preparing stable zirconium hydroxide sol widened as 8.0-11.0. The suitable concentration of ZrOCl2 solution for the efficient gelation keeping the high dispersion stability was investigated. The microwave drying was demonstrated to be suitable for preparation of nanoparticle. The characteristics of produced nano zirconia were discussed, which in results the shape of powder was spherical and the grain size was 35 nm at average with moderate dispersion.