Surface Morphology and Stability Analysis of Ceria-based Nanoparticles for its Utilization as a Lubricant Additive

摘要

The lubricants added with nanoparticle additives have achieved a predominant position in the field of research on development of sustainable lubricating oils. The efficient physical and chemical properties of metal oxide nanoparticles as lubricant additives have widely extended its purview. The surface morphology and stability analysis of nano-sized Ceria (CeO_2) and Ceria-Zirconia (Ce-Zr) hybrid nanoparticles are carried out using High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HR-TEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Zeta Potential (ZP) analyses techniques. The ceria-based nanoparticles are synthesized through the bottom-up approach of chemical processing named Precipitation Method (PM). The better control on particle size of PM resulted in refined and spherically shaped nanoparticles. Further, to improve the dispersion stability of the prepared nanoparticles in the lubricant, a suitable surfactant namely Polysorbate 20 (Tween 20) was used. The characterization results proved that the ceria-based nanoparticles can play an important role in improving the lubricating properties of the base-oil, provided that proper measures are taken to compensate for its minimal undesirable effects.