In this study, Triethylenetetramine (Trien) was employed not only as precipitator, but also as morphologyand size-modifier to prepare pure cubic zirconium dioxide nanocrystals. Trien with high steric hindrance effect was employed as morphology- and size-modifier. Besides Trien as novel precipitator, zirconyl nitrate was employed as zirconium source for the synthesis of pure cubic zirconium dioxide nanocrystals through a facile surfactant-free precipitation process. SEM results of this investigation reveal that grain size and shape of the zirconium dioxide powders can be modified by changing key preparation factors such as the solvent sort, precipitator concentration and reaction time. XRD, FESEM, DR–UV–vis, PL, FT-IR and EDX were used to characterize the as-produced zirconium dioxide nanocrystals. Moreover, the photocatalytic performance of as-prepared zirconium dioxide nanocrystals was evaluated by degradation of erythrosine dye as a model of water pollutant.
