Ceria-zirconia oxides is thermodynamically favorable in a wide range of solid solution compositions, which means that ceria-zirconia is metastable with respect to phase separation. Ceria-zirconia is widely used as a component in current three-way catalytic converters. The ceria-based component of the converter has several functions, including promoting the dispersion of the noble metals in the catalyst, but also storing and releasing oxygen. The incorporation of zirconium in modern converters, forming ceria-zirconia, improves the performance of the catalyst by enhancing the resistance of the material to sintering, and simultaneously increasing the ability of the oxide to accommodate oxygen vacancies in its structure.
Zirconium the most common. It is released as a product of U, mainly in nuclear plants and during nuclear weapons tests in the 1950s and 1960s. It has a very long half-life (1.53 million years), its decay emits only low energy radiations, and it is not considered as highly hazardous. Zirconium Zirconium is a chemical element with symbol Zr and atomic number 40. The name "zirconium" is taken from the name of the mineral zircon (the word is related to Persian "zargun" (zircon;"zar-gun", "gold-like" or "as gold")), the most important source of zirconium. It is a lustrous, grey-white, strong transition metal