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The synthesis and characterization of mesoporous silica–zirconia aerogels

2004; Elsevier BV; Volume: 68; Issue: 1-3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.micromeso.2003.12.018

1873-3093

Zhigang Wu, Yongxiang Zhao, Dian‐Sheng Liu,

Catalytic Processes in Materials Science

A series of mesoporous SiO2ZrO2 aerogels with various zirconia content (10–90 wt%) were prepared by the sol–gel method followed by supercritical drying. The characterization of aerogels is performed by XRD, FT-IR, 29Si liquid-state NMR, and BET-N2 adsorption. The results showed that (i) the aerogels have type VI (BDDT) profile which is the typical of mesopores in the interval between 2<Dp<50 nm; (ii) the specific surface areas varied from 340 to 730 m2/g with (SBET)MAX=735.5 m2/g for the aerogel with 10 wt% zirconia and the surface areas decreased with the increase of zirconia; (iii) all the aerogels with different zirconia content remained amorphous or poorly crystallized after calcination in air at 500 °C; (iv) a large number of SiOZr bands existed in the aerogels indicating a homogeneous distribution of the components on the atomic scale. In addition, using inorganic salt as zirconium source instead of the expensive and toxic zirconium alkoxide is very economic.