Hierarchical microtubular nanoporous zirconia with an extremely high surface area and pore volume

Hierarchical nanoporous zirconias with an aligned microtubular structure of inner diameter 0.5–1.5 μm and length 5–30 μm and an extremely high surface area and large pore volume (up to 1100 m2/g and 3.0 cm3/g, respectively) have been prepared by a simple method from a mixture of zirconium propoxide and chloroform solutions in the presence of nonionic polyethylene oxide surfactant. The tubular walls are composed of wormhole-like nanopores, resulting in very high surface areas and large pore volumes of hierarchical porous materials for multi-applications.