Preparation of nanocrystalline ceramic oxide powders in the presence of anionic starburst dendrimer

Weakly agglomerated nanocrystalline ceramic oxides (ZrO2, CeO2, and Y2O3) powders have been prepared in the presence of anionic starburst dendrimers poly(amidoamine), PAMAM (G 5.5) with surface carboxylate groups. The PAMAM dendrimer appeared to be an inhibitor for crystal formation and affected the crystal morphology and particle size during the preparation. The resultant products have been characterized by thermogravimetric analysis (TG), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The resulting powders are highly crystalline and largely monodisperse oxide particles. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.