A simple route to synthesize hierarchical porous ZrO sub(2)

A simple method for preparing porous ZrO sub(2) has been proposed by directly decomposing a Zr(NO sub(3)) sub(4).5H sub(2)O ethanol sol-gel solution. Contrary to other traditional sol-gel methods, porous ZrO sub(2) with multi-sized macro- and meso-pores are synthesized viaonly one simple step. The size of the macropores ranges from 100 nm to 500 nm. Remarkably, we also isolated some highly dispersed ZrO sub(2) nanoparticles ( similar to 60 nm), which on their surface or even in the whole body are fully filled with well-sized ever-smaller spherical mesopores with an average diameter around similar to 5 nm. A further investigation of low-temperature nitrogen absorption has shown a high surface area over 162 m super(2) g super(-1) for the fully crystallized ZrO sub(2). No more additional modifiers or complicated preparations are needed in the present method, which promises a new potential option in fabricating high-porosity materials.