Kaixue Wang, Michael A. Morris, Justin D. Holmes, Jihong Yu, Ruren Xu

Thermally stable nanocrystallised mesoporous zirconia thin films

Microporous and Mesoporous Materials 117 (2009) 161–164

A supercritical fluid process method has been developed for fabricating mesoporous zirconia thin films with enhanced thermal stability up to a temperature of 850 °C. Both the supercritical CO₂ and the precursor tetramethoxysilane play an important role in enhancing the thermal stability of these films. Powder X-ray diffraction, Atomic force microscope, spectroscopic ellipsometry and transmission electron microscope analyses show that the thin films fabricated by the supercritical fluid process method have a highly ordered mesoporous structure, a nanocrystalline inorganic framework and a high optical transparency. These zirconia thin films have potential applications as electrodes in solid oxide fuel cells where high thermal stability is essential.

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Cited Articles

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