Design and synthesis of large-pore p6mm mesoporus zirconia thin films templated by a novel block copolymer

A novel poly(butadiene-b-ethylene oxide) (PB-PEO) block copolymer was employed as the structure-directing agent for the preparation of large-pore, mesoporous for zirconia with two-dimensional (2D) hexagonal (p6mm) mesostructure through evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) approach. The presented materials, calcined at 400 °C and 500 °C, were characterized in detail by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and nitrogen sorption. The results showed that the mesoporous zirconia possesses a large-pore diameter, high BET surface area, and large-porosity. A probable formation mechanism was also presented in this work.