Influence of Zirconium Oxide Additives on the Phase Composition and Texture of Heat-Treated Titanium Dioxide

The structure of ZrO2-doped titanium dioxide (3-10 wt.% ZrO2) subjected to a 500-900 °C heat treatment is studied by powder XRD, electron microscopy, and adsorption methods. It is shown that the doping leads to the formation of TiO2-based nanostructured compounds composed of incoherently intergrown highly dispersed anatase crystallites separated by inter-block boundaries containing stabilized zirconium ions. This nanostructure prevents the nanocrystalline anatase particles from sintering into a regular structure and therefor stabilizes the anatase phase at quite high temperature, thus leading to the formation of a large specific surface area and a more developed porous structure than that of pure titanium dioxide.