Fluoride-mediately oriented assembly of zirconia nanoparticles: 3D monocrystalline architectures and dye degradation

Nano subunits self-assembly provides a powerful approach for creating unique architectures of relevance for applications. While the use of organic surfactants to direct the assembly of nanoparticles is most popular, it remains a challenge to manipulate the order-assembly of a large number of nanoparticles along desirable facets. Here, we describe a fluoride-mediately solvothermal approach for building 3D monocrystalline ZrO2 architectures through oriented attach of ZrO2 nanoparticles in three dimensions, the preferential adsorption of fluoride on specific crystallographic planes may be critical to promoting the oriented aggregation of ZrO2 nanoparticles along rigid directions. After calcination, the dense monocrystalline architectures are transformed into porous monocrystalline structures with inherited morphology, uniform and well-dispersed open pores. The sample before calcination exhibits a better performance in photocatalytic degradation of conge red in aqueous solution, while the sample after calcination shows a better adsorption effect in dark, the mechanism is discussed in detail.

Automated summary

In this study, a fluoride-mediated solvothermal approach was used to construct 3D monocrystalline ZrO2 architectures through oriented attachment of ZrO2 nanoparticles. The preferential adsorption of fluoride on specific crystallographic planes played a critical role in promoting the oriented aggregation of ZrO2 nanoparticles. After calcination, the dense monocrystalline structures transformed into porous monocrystalline structures with well-dispersed open pores, showing improved performance in photocatalytic degradation and adsorption.