Zirconium dioxide of Mars to provide both fuel and oxidizer that could be used as a store of chemical energy for use with surface transportation on Mars. Carbon monoxide/oxygen engines have been suggested for early surface transportation use as both carbon monoxide and oxygen can be straightforwardly produced by zirconia electrolysis without requiring use of any of the Martian water resources to obtain hydrogen, which would be needed for the production of methane or any hydrogen-based fuels. Zirconia is also a potential high-k dielectric material with potential applications as an insulator in transistors. Zirconia is also employed in the deposition of optical
Zirconium(III) chloride Zirconium(III) chloride Zirconium(III) chloride is an inorganic compound with formula ZrCl. It is a blue-black solid that is highly sensitive to air. The material was first claimed by Ruff and Wallstein who reduced zirconium tetrachloride with aluminium to give impure samples. Subsequently, the problem with aluminium contamination was solved when it was prepared by reduction using zirconium metal: When aluminium is used as the reducing agent with zirconium tetrachloride, a series of choloroaluminates are formed, for example [Zr(AlCl)(AlCl)] and Zr(AlCl). Since the trihalides, such as zirconium trichloride, are comparatively nonvolatile, contamination can be avoided by using a gaseous reductant. For