A novel sol–gel synthesis of mesoporous ZrO2–MoO3/WO3 mixed oxides

Mesoporous ZrO2–MoO3/WO3 mixed oxides have been synthesized through a novel, convenient one step sol–gel technique. Water soluble molybdate/tungstate and zirconium (IV) carbonate complex have been employed in presence of cationic surfactant, tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide under basic condition. The synthesized materials have shown high specific surface areas and narrow pore-size distributions which were achieved after optimization of the amount of surfactant. Mesoporous ZrO2–MoO3 and ZrO2–WO3 mixed oxides have shown specific surface areas of 228 and 275 m2 g−1 and pore sizes of 3.65 nm and 4.33 nm, respectively. FTIR and Raman studies prove the formation of hetero bonding in mixed oxides.