High-strength, thermal-stable ZrO2 aerogel from polyacetylacetonatozirconium

Abstract Polyacetylacetonatozirconium was used as the precursor to synthesize ZrO 2 aerogel (PAZ-ZrO 2 ). The physical properties of the aerogel were compared with those generated from zirconyl chloride (ZOC-ZrO 2 ) and zirconyl nitrate (ZON-ZrO 2 ). PAZ-ZrO 2 aerogel has higher compressive strength (0.12–0.23 MPa) with lower density (0.12 ± 0.005 g/cm 3 ) as compared to ZOC-ZrO 2 and ZON-ZrO 2 aerogel, of which the mechanical strengths are in the range of 0.02–0.15 MPa and the density of 0.13–0.17 g/cm 3 . After being treated at 1000 °C, the surface area (pore volume) of ZOC-ZrO 2 , ZON-ZrO 2 and PAZ-ZrO 2 aerogel are 210 m 2 /g (1.299 cm 3 /g), 223 m 2 /g (0.444 cm 3 /g) and 236 m 2 /g (1.568 cm 3 /g) respectively.