Raman spectroscopic study on ZrO 2 –TiO 2 using MoO 3 as a molecular probe

The surface interaction between ZrO 2 and TiO 2 in physical mixtures was studies using laser Raman spectroscopy (LRS). The characteristic peaks of ZrO 2 disappeared after mixing ZrO 2 and TiO 2 with a loading ZrO 2 of less than 25 wt.% and calcination at 773 K for 12 h. Surface polyhedrally coordinated Zr on TiO 2 could not be detected by LRS. Therefore, MoO 3 was used as a molecular probe to detect the nature of the interactions between ZrO 2 and TiO 2 . The results revealed that ZrO 2 could disperse on the surface of TiO 2 and its interaction with TiO 2 is different from that of MoO 3 and TiO 2 .