A steady mesoporous zirconia nanocrystallite has been successfully synthesized by the anionic surfactant-assisted route. The DSC-TG, FT-IR, XRD, TEM, UV-Vis and N₂ adsorption-desorption analyses have been used for the structural characterizations. The DSC-TG showed that the anionic surfactant had a significant co-operative effect on the synthesis of zirconia nanocrystallite. The XRD patterns indicate that the as-prepared zirconia took a pure tetragonal phase even calcinated at 600 ℃. The TEM analysis displays that the zirconia exhibits worm-like mesoporous structure, which can be well maintained after calcination. The pore size is about 1.8 nm, observable from the TEM images. Compared to that of the commercial sample, a significant blue shift of the UV-Vis spectra of the zirconia nanocrystallite after calcination at 500 ℃ has been demonstrated. The N₂ adsorption analysis illustrates that the zirconia has an improved BET surface area after calcination, indicative of good thermal stability.

Key words: anionic surfactant, mesoporous zirconia, synthesis, nanocrystallite