Effect of Hydrolysis Conditions on the Direct Formation of Nanoparticles of Ceria–Zirconia Solid Solutions from Acidic Aqueous Solutions

The effect of the cation concentration, hydrolysis temperature, and composition in the CeO2–ZrO2 system on the direct precipitation of ceria–zirconia solid solutions and the structure of the precipitates from acidic aqueous solutions of (NH4)2Ce(NO3)6 and ZrOCl2 by hydrolysis under hydrothermal conditions were investigated. Nanometer-sized (8–10 nm) ceria–zirconia solid solution particles in a composition range of 0 to 60 mol% ZrO2 were directly precipitated from the solutions with total metal cation concentration less than 0.2 mol/dm3 by simultaneous thermal hydrolysis at 150–240°C. The crystalline phase of the precipitates gradually changed from cubic and/or tetragonal to monoclinic with increasing the cation concentration of the solution from 0.2 to 0.8 mol/dm3 at the starting composition of 50 mol% ZrO2 under hydrolysis condition of 150°C for 48 h, which was attributed to decrease in the supply of hydrolyzed Ce component caused by decrease in the hydrolysis ratio of (NH4)2Ce(NO3)6. Ceria–zirconia solid solutions containing large amount of ZrO2 maintained high specific surface area and small-sized crystallite after heat-treatment at 900–1000°C for 1 h.