Hierarchically Porous Zirconia Monolith Fabricated from Bacterial Cellulose and Preceramic Polymer

摘要

A hierarchically porous zirconia (ZrO_(2)) monolith was successfully fabricated by using bacterial cellulose (BC) as a biotemplate and preceramic polymer as a zirconium resource, via freeze-drying and two-step calcination process. Images of scanning electron microscopy showed that the ZrO_(2) monolith well-replicated a three-dimensional reticulated structure of pristine BC and possessed good morphology stability till 1100 °C in air. Results of N_(2) adsorption/desorption and mercury porosimetry analysis revealed the hierarchically porous structure and large specific area (9.7 m~(2)·g~(–1)) of the ZrO_(2) monolith, respectively. Patterns of X-ray powder diffraction indicated that the monoclinic phase and tetragonal phase coexisted in the ZrO_(2) monolith with the former as the main phase. In addition, the ZrO_(2) monolith possessed low bulk density (0.13 g·cm~(–3)) and good mechanical strength. These properties suggest that the as-prepared ZrO_(2) monolith has a great potential to serve as an ideal catalyst or catalyst support.