Amorphous mesostructured zirconia with high (hydro)thermal stability

Here, combining the evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) method and the liquid crystal templating pathway, mesostructured amorphous zirconium oxides have been prepared by a soft templating method without addition of any heteroelement to stabilize the mesopore framework. The recovered materials have been characterized by SAXS measurements, nitrogen adsorption-desorption analysis and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The obtained mesostructured zirconia exhibits a high thermal stability. An in situ XRD study performed as a function of temperature shows that the amorphous ZrO₂, obtained after removal of the pore templating agent (pluronic P123), begins to crystallize in air from 420 °C. Amorphous mesostructured ZrO₂ also presents a high hydrothermal stability; these materials are not degraded after 72 hours in boiling water.