Facile synthesis of highly ordered mesoporous alumina with high thermal and hydrothermal stability using zirconia as promoter

By using zirconia as promoter, a highly ordered mesoporous alumina with extremely high thermal and hydrothermal stability has been synthesized successfully via an evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) pathway associated with thermal treatment. In comparison to pure mesoporous alumina, the resultant mesoporous zirconia–alumina nanomaterials maintain the ordered hexagonal mesostructure, narrow pore-size distribution, high BET surface area and pore volume even after thermal treatment at 1000 °C or boiling water treatment for 6 h. Our contribution provides an important approach to synthesize ordered mesoporous Zr–Al nanomaterials with high thermal and hydrothermal stability, which can find potential application for the catalytic applications in the petroleum industry.

► Highly ordered mesoporous Zr–Al composite nanomaterials.
► Extremely high thermal and hydrothermal stability.
► High zirconium content (Zr/Al atom ratio is 0.2) in the materials.
► New synthesis method to introduce heteroatoms into mesoporous alumina materials.