Formation mechanism of core-shell nanocrystals obtained via dehydration of coprecipitated hydroxides at hydrothermal conditions

Here, we propose a formation mechanism for core-shell nanoparticles by self-organization in coprecipitated mixed hydroxides under hydrothermal conditions. A thermodynamic reason for this process is because of a decrease in the components’ solubilities together with an increase of structure's dimension. As a particular example of such type of behavior, we investigate core-shell nanoparticle formation in the ZrO$_2$-Y$_2$O$_3$-H$_2$O system.