Hierarchically porous YSZ hollow spheres with ultralow thermal conductivity

• Novel hierarchically porous structure.
• New YSZ hollow microspheres.
• Efficient synthesis method.
• Ultralow thermal conductivity.

YSZ hollow microspheres are synthesized through an efficient microwave-assisted hydrothermal method. By analyzing products collected at different heating stages, the formation mechanism of the hierarchically porous architecture is proposed. During the low-temperature microwave-heating step, the surfactant self-assembles into spherical micelles. Meanwhile, the Zr4+ and Y3+ ions in solution precipitate onto the template of the as-formed CTAB micelles. During the following hydrothermal process, ethanol dehydrates to form ether in the form of oil droplets in solution. Further aggregation of obtained spherical particles in the microwave-heating step occurs at the oil droplet-solution interface while aging. The resulting YSZ hollow spheres not only contain three levels of hierarchical porosity but also exhibit high BET surface area (163 m2 g−1) and pore volume (0.19 cm−3 g−1). Besides, ultralow thermal conductivity of 0.030 W m−1 K−1 is achieved at room temperature in such hierarchically porous YSZ hollow spheres.

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