Facile Synthesis of Zr-Based Functional Materials with Highly Ordered Mesoporous Structures

A simple general method has been developed for the synthesis of Zr-based multicomponent functional materials with highly ordered mesoporous structure, including pure zirconia, ceria-zirconia solid solutions, yttria-stabilized zirconia, and scandia-stabilized zirconia. Amphiphilic poly(alkylene oxide) block copolymers serve as structure-directing agents (SDAs). More importantly, the whole process is self-adjusting to organize the network-forming metal oxide species without any additional acid or base. Small-angle X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements show that these mesoporous Zr-based materials possess 2D hexagonal mesostructure (p6mm) with large-domain order and crystalline walls. Nitrogen sorption isotherms reveal that these materials have large surface areas, pore volumes, and narrow pore size distributions. The introduction of the second metal species to the Zr-based system enhances the thermal stability of the mesostructures, and in certain cases, they are resistant to high temperature up to 700 C. All features above of these Zr-based mesoporous materials promise the various potentials in heterogeneous catalysis, solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), oxygen sensors, and so forth. With the selection of the hydrogenation of benzene as a test reaction, the representative mesoporous ZrO2 and Ce0.5Zr0.5O2 loaded with ruthenium demonstrate their potentials in catalysis.