Fabrication of Macro-Mesoporous Zirconia-Alumina Materials with a One-Dimensional Hierarchical Structure

A series of one-dimensional (1D) zirconia/alumina nanocomposites were prepared by the deposition of zirconium species onto the three-dimensional framework of boehmite nanofibers formed by dispersing boehmite nanofibers into butanol solution. The materials were calcined at 773 K and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), N2 adsorption/desorption, and infrared emission spectroscopy (IES). The results demonstrated that when the molar percentage X = 100*Zr/(Al + Zr) > 30%, extremely long ZrO2/Al2O3 composite nanorods with evenly distributed ZrO2 nanocrystals on the surface were formed. The stacking of such nanorods gave rise to a new kind of macroporous material without the use of any organic space filler/template or other specific technologies. The mechanism for the formation of long ZrO2/Al2O3 composite nanorods was proposed in this work.