The synthesis and characterization of mesostructured zirconia and tita
nium oxides are presented. The samples were investigated by x-ray powd
er diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and atom
ic force microscopy (AFM). XRD and TEM revealed only lamellar structur
es for both materials, whereas AFM could detect locally restricted ini
tial stages of cubic or hexagonal phases in a globally lamellar Ti oxi
de.