FORMATION OF HIGH-SURFACE-AREA MESOPOROUS ZIRCONIAS

It has been shown that high surface area zirconias may be prepared by hydrolysis of ZrOCl2 8 H2O in the presence of surfactant (cetyltrimeth ylammonium bromide). The high surface area is attributed to the format ion of clusters aggregated in small particles, The time of reaction be tween 24 and 90 hours greatly influences the specific surface area plu s the extent of crystallinity of the calcined zirconias. A mechanism o f synthesis leading to devised zirconium oxide is proposed.