Oxygen/zirconium oxide system

Porous ceramics are made by the sol-gel process. These ceramics have spongelike structures, with many porelike lacunae, or openings, that can make up from 25 to 70 percent of the volume. The pore size can be large, or as small as 50 nanometers (2 X 10 inches) in diameter. Because of the large number of pores, porous ceramics have enormous surface areas (up to 500 square meters, or 5,382 square feet, per gram of ceramic), and so can make excellent catalysts. For example, zirconium oxide is a ceramic oxygen sensor that monitors the air-to-fuel ratio in the exhaust systems of automobiles. 

O-Donor Ligands. Table 2 summarizes some of the data reported on zirconates, hafnates, and related mixed oxide systems, and the physicochemical properties of mixed oxide systems involving Zr02 have been reviewed. The corrosion of zirconium metal by liquid sodium containing dissolved oxygen takes place... 

A washcoat, which provides a high surface area onto which the active catalyst is impregnated. The washcoat typically consists of a mixture of zirconium, cerium and aluminium oxides. Apart from providing high surface area the washcoat also acts as an oxygen storage system (see below). 

In the formation of metal oxides, both diffusion of oxygen inwards through the film on metal as well as diffusion of metal outwards may occur. Diffusion of oxide inwards to the metal/oxide interface is typified by titanium-oxygen and zirconium-oxygen systems. 

Cerium-zirconium mixed metal oxides are used in conjunction with platinum group metals to reduce and eliminate pollutants in automotive emissions control catalyst systems. The ceria-zirconia promoter materials regulate the partial pressure of oxygen near the catalyst surface, thereby facilitating catalytic oxidation and reduction of gas phase pollutants. However, ceria-zirconia is particularly susceptible to chemical and physical deactivation through sulfur dioxide adsorption. The interaction of sulfur dioxide with ceria-zirconia model catalysts has been studied with Auger spectroscopy to develop fundamental information regarding the sulfur dioxide deactivation mechanism. 

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