Nano-sized Y2O3 powders were prepared via a sol-gel method starting with Y(NO3)3·6H2O (Yttrium(III) nitrate hexahydrate) and water with ethanol as a cosolvent. Y2O3 is an important rare earth oxide and has been considered for use in nuclear applications, such as ceramic materials, due to its excellent optical and refractory characteristics. It has been used as a chemically stable substrate, a crucible material for melting reactive metals, and a nozzle material for jet casting molten rare earth-iron magnetic alloys. Oxalic acid (C2H2O4) has been adopted as a chelating agent in order to control the rate of hydrolysis and polycondensation, and ammonia was added in order to adjust the base condition. The synthesized Y2O3 powder was characterized using TG/DTA, XRD, FE-SEM, BET and Impedance Analyzer analyses. The powder changed its properties in accordance with the pH conditions of the catalyst. As the pH increases according to the FE-SEM, the grain grew and it showed that the pore size decreased while confirming the effect of the grain size. The nano-material Y2O3 powders demonstrated that the surface area was improved with the addition of oxalic acid with ammonium hydroxide.

La doped CuO-ZnO-Al2O3 powders are prepared by sol-gel method with aluminum isopropoxide and primarydistilled water as precursor and solvent. In this synthesized process, the obtained metal oxides caused the precursor such ascopper (II) nitrate hydrate and zinc (II) nitrate hexahydrate were added. To improve the surface areas of La doped CuO-ZnO-Al2O3 powder, sorbitan (z)-mono-9-octadecenoate (Span 80) was added. The synthesized powder was calcined at varioustemperatures. The dopant was found to affect the surface area and particle size of the mixed oxide, in conjunction with thecalcined temperature. The structural analysis and textual properties of the synthesized powder were measured with an X-rayDiffractometer (XRD), a Field-Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FE-SEM), Bruner-Emmett-Teller surface analysis (BET),Thermogravimetry-Differential Thermal analysis (TG/DTA), 27Al solid state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and transforminfrared microspectroscopy (FT-IR). An increase of surface area with Span 80 was observed on La doped CuO-ZnO-Al2O3powders from 25m2/g to 41m2/g.

Al2O3 has received wide attention with established use as a catalyst and growing application in structural or functional ceramic materials. On the other hand, the boehmite (AlO(OH)) obtained by sol-gel process has exhibited a decrease in surface area during phase transformation due to a decline in surface active site at high temperature. In this work, Al2O3-CuO/ZnO (ACZ) and Al2O3-CuO/CeO (ACC) composite materials were synthesized with aluminum isopropoxide, copper (II) nitrate hemi (pentahydrate), and cerium (III) nitrate hexahydrate or zinc (II) nitrate hexahydrate. Moreover, the Span 80 as the template block copolymer was added to the ACZ/ACC composition to make nano size particles and to keep increasing the surface area. The ACZ/ACC synthesized powders were characterized by Thermogravimetry-Differential Thermal analysis (TG/DTA), X-ray Diffractometer (XRD), Field-Emmision Scanning Electron Microscope (FE-SEM), Bruner-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface analysis and thermal electrical conductivity (ZEM-2:M8/L). An enhancement of surface area with the addition to Span 80 surfactant was observed in the ACZ powders from 105 m2/g to 142 m2/g, and the ACC powders from 103 m2/g to 140 m2/g, respectively.