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 nitride Zirconium nitride Zirconium nitride () is an inorganic compound used in a variety of ways due to its properties. ZrN grown by physical vapor deposition (PVD) is a light gold color similar to elemental gold. ZrN has a room-temperature electrical resistivity of 12.0 µΩ·cm, a temperature coefficient of resistivity of 5.6·10 Ω·cm/K, a superconducting transition temperature of 10.4 K, and a relaxed lattice parameter of 0.4575 nm. The hardness of single-crystal ZrN is 22.7±1.7 GPa and elastic modulus is 450 GPa. Zirconium nitride is a hard ceramic material similar to titanium nitride and is a cement-like refractory material. Thus it