Hydrothermal Synthesis, Characterization and Dielectric Properties of Zirconia Nanoparticles

Simple hydrothermal method has been used to synthesize zirconia (ZrO 2 ) nanoparticles in alkaline medium. The powder X-ray diffraction technique (PXRD), electron microscopic studies (SEM and TEM) and BET surface area studies were done to characterize the as-synthesized nanoparticles. The crystalline nature and phase analysis of the ZrO 2 nanoparticles was determined by X-ray diffraction studies which revealed that the as-synthesized powder is pure monoclinic zirconia (m-ZrO 2 ). The particle size was estimated by TEM and HRTEM studies, which comes out to be about 25nm. The surface area of as-prepared ZrO 2 nanoparticles was found to be 186m 2 /g with DA pore radius of 11.9 by using BET surface area studies. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss of the nanoparticles were found to be 7.5 and 0.0094 for as-synthesized nanoparticles at 500kHz frequency at room temperature.