Synthesis of amorphous supermicroporous zirconium phosphate materials by nonionic surfactant templating

Supermicroporous zirconium phosphate materials possessing wormhole-like pores in the size range 1.3–1.8 nm were synthesized by using nonionic poly(ethylene oxide) surfactant (e.g., C16H33(EO)10, C18H35(EO)10) as a structure directing agent. The textural and structural properties were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, N2 adsorption analysis, differential thermal analysis, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, 31P MAS NMR and infrared spectroscopy. The synthesized materials are amorphous, exhibiting high surface areas, narrow pore size distributions, excellent thermal stabilities (over 800 °C) and acidic properties. The supermicropore size of the synthesized zirconium phosphate may be tunable by the variation of alkyl chain length of the surfactant.