The noble metal Ag has been loaded into the porous zirconium oxide by the solution-phase grafting method and a suitable thermal treatment. The X-ra powder diffraction, HRTEM,EDS,FT-IR,XPS and UV vis spectroscopy were adopted for the characterization of the products. It is shown that the dispersion of Ag particles is seriously influenced by the thermal treatment. Ag clusters can be dispersed homogeneously into the channels under suitable heat treatment, and the distinctive host-guest effect has been detected. However, Ag particles may diffuse onto the external pore surface with the increasing of the treatment temperature.

Key words: NANOPHASE MATERIALS, ZIRCONIUM OXIDE, SILVER, X-RAY DIFFRACTION ANALYSIS, FOURIER TRANSFORM, INFRARED SPECTROPHOTOMETRY, X-RAY PHOTOELECTRON SPECTROMETRY, ULTRAVIOLET SPECTROPHOTOMETRY