title: Nucleation and growth kinetics of zirconium-oxo-alkoxy nanoparticles.
abstract: Nucleation and growth of zirconium-oxo-alkoxy (ZOA) nanoparticles were studied in a sol-gel process in n-propanol solution at a hydrolysis ratio H between 1.0 and 2.7 and zirconium-n-propoxyde precursor concentrations between 0.10 and 0.15 mol l(-1). The chemical transformations were conducted in quasi-perfect micromixing conditions (Damköhler number Da ≤ 1) and the nanoparticle size evolution was monitored in situ with the light scattering method. The size of primary nanoparticles (nuclei) 2R0 = 3.6 nm was found to be almost independent of the preparation conditions. A remarkable similarity with the titanium-oxo-alkoxy (TOA) nanoparticles was observed. In particular, both systems show the induction stage of the sol-gel growth for a hydrolysis ratio H > 2.0 and stable oxometallate units for H≤ 2.0. However in contrast to TOA, no stable hierarchical ZOA units (clusters) with R0≥R≥ 1.0 nm were observed, which makes this system less stable against aggregation, leading to polydispersed nanoparticles.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire des Sciences des Procédés et des Matériaux, CNRS, Université Paris 13, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 93430 Villetaneuse, France. andrei.kanaev@lspm.cnrs.fr.
authors.forename: Sana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Labidi
authors.forename: Zixian
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.forename: Mounir Ben
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Amar
authors.forename: Khay
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chhor
authors.forename: Andrei
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kanaev