Synthesis and characterization of mesoporous zirconium oxide thin films

Zirconium oxide (ZrO2) has generated wide interest because of its potential in applications such as solid oxide fuel cells, catalysts and optical devices. In these applications, it is important to control the grain size of the material and increase the surface area by introducing porosity with tailored pore size. This paper presents a synthesis route for the preparation of mesoporous zirconia using spin-coating method combined with block copolymer templating evaporation induced self assembly (EISA). The hybrid mesophase was formed by zirconium oxychloride precursor ZrOCl2⋅8H2O and Brij 700 poly-ethylene oxide based block copolymer template C18H37(OCH2CH2). FT-IR and Raman measurements of the hybrid mesophase provided information on the possible intermolecular interactions between the precursor and the copolymer template. The results indicate a weak ion-dipole interaction between the inorganic precursor and the organic template after the solvent evaporation, possibly directly between the zirconium and the oxygen of the poly-ethylene oxide chain. The removal of the organic block copolymer by heat treatment resulted in mesoporous zirconia with pore size of ~4-8 nm and crystalline grain size of ~10-17 nm. The morphology in thin films depended significantly on the solvent quality and the block copolymer concentration. Tailoring the surface morphology and the grain size resulted in super-hydrophilic mesoporous zirconia thin films in contrast to water contact angle of 50 on conventional tetragonal zirconium oxide.