Effect of Sulfuric Acid Treatment and Calcination on Commercial Zirconia Nanopowder

The modification of commercial zirconia nanopowder by sulfuric acid and heat treatment was conducted. The aim of this present research was to obtain a stable modified zirconia nanopowder chemically and thermally by studying the effect of sulfuric acid treatment and calcination temperature on commercial zirconia nanopowder. The material was prepared by dispersing the commercial zirconia nanopowder into 0.2, 0.5 and 0.8 M sulfuric acid solutions, followed by calcination at varied temperatures, i.e. 600, 700, 800 and 900 °C. The so called sulfated zirconias then were characterized their physicochemical properties using FT-IR, XRD and SEM-EDX analysis methods. The optimized condition for that modification was obtained by using sulfuric acid of 0.8 M and calcination temperature of 600 °C. The characterization results also revealed that using ammonia adsorption method, the acidity of the catalyst was found to be 1.06 mmol/g.