Kinetic Analysis for the Non-Isothermal Decomposition of Un-Irradiated and Y-Irradiated Zirconium Acetylacetonate

• Published in: Progress in reaction kinetics and mechanism 2012-02, Vol.37 (1), p.59-75
• Main Authors: Al-Otaibi, A.M., Al-Wassil, A.I., Siddiqui, M.R.H., Mahfouz, R.M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1468-6783; 1471-406X
• DOI: 10.3184/146867811X13095343745013

Kinetic studies for the non-isothermal decomposition of un-irradiated and y-irradiated zirconium acetylacetonate, Zr(acac) 4 , with 10 3 KGy total y-ray dose were carried out in static air. The results show that decomposition proceeds through multiple steps and ends with the formation of Zr O z as a final solid residue without any significant changes in the thermal behaviour between un-irradiated and y-irradiated samples of Zr(acac) 4 . The non-isothermal data for both un- irradiated and y-irradiated Zr(acac) 4 were analysed using both model-free and model-fitting approaches. Irregular variation of E a with α indicates a complex decomposition mechanism involving multi-step processes including melting, sublimation and degradation and more than one model could be suggested to explain the results. Calcination of Zr(acac) 4 at 600° C for five hours led to the formation of Zr0 2 monodispersed nanoparticles, characterised by X-ray diffraction, FT-IR, SEM and TEM. This is the first example of preparing Zr0 2 nanoparticles by solid state thermal decomposition of Zr(acac) 4 .