Studies on the porous zirconium oxide loaded with Ag nanoparticles

The noble metal Ag has been loaded into the porous zirconium oxide by the s olution - phase grafting method and a suitable thermal treatment. The X - r ay powder diffraction, HRTEM, EDS, FT - IR, XPS and UV - vis spectroscopy w ere adopted for the characterization of the products. It is shown that the dispersion of Ag particles is seriously influenced by the thermal treatment . Ag clusters can be dispersed homogeneously into the channels under suitab le heat treatment, and the distinctive host - guest effect has been detecte d. However, Ag particles may diffuse onto the external pore surface with th e increasing of the treatment temperature.