title: Efficient One-Pot Synthesis of Colloidal Zirconium Oxide Nanoparticles for High-Refractive-Index Nanocomposites.
abstract: Zirconium oxide nanoparticles are promising candidates for optical engineering, photocatalysis, and high-κ dielectrics. However, reported synthetic methods for the colloidal zirconium oxide nanoparticles use unstable alkoxide precursors and have various other drawbacks, limiting their wide application. Here, we report a facile one-pot method for the synthesis of colloidally stable zirconium oxide nanoparticles. Using a simple solution of zirconium trifluoroacetate in oleylamine, highly stable zirconium oxide nanoparticles have been synthesized with high yield, following a proposed amidization-assisted sol-gel mechanism. The nanoparticles can be readily dispersed in nonpolar solvents, forming a long-term stable transparent solution, which can be further used to fabricate high-refractive-index nanocomposites in both monolith and thin-film forms. In addition, the same method has also been extended to the synthesis of titanium oxide nanoparticles, demonstrating its general applicability to all group IVB metal oxide nanoparticles.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of California , Los Angeles, California 90095, United States.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of California , Los Angeles, California 90095, United States.
authors.forename: Tibor Jacob
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Hajagos
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of California , Los Angeles, California 90095, United States.
authors.forename: Dustin
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of California , Los Angeles, California 90095, United States.|School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology , Shanghai 200237, China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of California , Los Angeles, California 90095, United States.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kishpaugh
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of California , Los Angeles, California 90095, United States.
authors.forename: Qibing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Pei
mesh_terms: D003102:Colloids / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D053761:Nanocomposites / Q000737:chemistry*; D012031:Refractometry; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry; D015040:Zirconium / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D003102:Colloids; C009495:titanium dioxide; D015040:Zirconium; D014025:Titanium; C028541:zirconium oxide
keywords: colloidal nanoparticles; high refractive index nanocomposites; one-pot synthesis; titanium oxide; zirconium oxide