Core-shell assembly of ZrO2 nanoparticles with ionic liquid: a novel and highly efficient heterogeneous catalysts for Biginelli and esterification reactions

Biomedical Applications of Zirconia-Based Nanomaterials: Challenges and Future Perspectives

ZrO₂ nanoparticles have received substantially increased attention in every field of life owing to their wide range of applications. Zirconium oxide is a commercially economical, non-hazardous, and sustainable metal oxide having diversified potential applications. ZrO₂ NPs play a vast role in the domain of medicine and pharmacy such as anticancer, antibacterial, and antioxidant agents and tissue engineering owing to their reliable curative biomedical applications. In this review article, we address all of the medical and biomedical applications of ZrO₂ NPs prepared through various approaches in a critical way. ZrO₂ is a bio-ceramic substance that has received increased attention in biomimetic scaffolds owing to its high mechanical strength, excellent biocompatibility, and high chemical stability. ZrO₂ NPs have demonstrated potential anticancer activity against various cancer cells. ZrO₂-based nanomaterials have exhibited potential antibacterial activity against various bacterial strains and have also demonstrated excellent antioxidant activity. The ZrO₂ nanocomposite also exhibits highly sensitive biosensing activity toward the sensing of glucose and other biological species.

Preparation of highly dispersed SnO/TiO2 catalysts and their performances in catalyzing polyol ester

A series of stannous oxide supported on rutile titanium dioxide (SnO/TiO₂) were prepared by a conventional incipient wetness impregnation method, and their performance as catalysts for fatty acid esterification reactions was investigated. The effects of Sn precursors (SnCl₂·2H₂O or SnC₂O₄), loading amounts (5-15%), and treating ambiences (air and N₂) were explored. The optimized 10% SnO/TiO₂-Cl with SnCl₂·2H₂O as the Sn precursor and thermal treatment in N₂ showed the best esterification performance. Specifically, 10% SnO/TiO₂-Cl catalyzed the esterification process of trimethylolpropane and n-octanoic acid with a conversion of 99.6% over 5 h at 160 °C, and 10% SnO/TiO₂-Cl was efficient for six catalytic cycles. Based on the results of X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectra, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), infrared spectra of pyridine adsorption (Py-IR), and ammonia temperature programmed desorption (NH₃-TPD), the improved catalytic performance is supposed to be attributable to the high dispersion of the Sn species on 10% SnO/TiO₂-Cl as the moderate Lewis acid sites.