Open Access

Helwig H. Thiel, Pablo Cascales de Paza, Martin Hartmann, Stefan Ernst

• The main application of zinc oxide in industrial processes is as an activator for the vulcanization accelerator in the manufacture of natural and synthetic rubber [1, 2]. ZnO is also used as pigment in colors and surface coatings, in pharmaceuticals or in the cosmetic industry and, last but not least, as catalyst in, e.g., the synthesis of methanol. In many of its applications, an important property is the specific surface area of ZnO. Two ways have been proposed for the preparation of zinc oxide with high specific surface area. The first possibility is the synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles [3, 4]. But there are still problems with the handling of the small particles during the preparation or the use as catalyst. Small particles are difficult to recover from their “mother liquor” and they will cause high pressure drop in a fixed-bed reactor if used as such. The second method of preparing zinc oxide with a large specific surface area is the direct synthesis of mesoporous zinc oxideThe main application of zinc oxide in industrial processes is as an activator for the vulcanization accelerator in the manufacture of natural and synthetic rubber [1, 2]. ZnO is also used as pigment in colors and surface coatings, in pharmaceuticals or in the cosmetic industry and, last but not least, as catalyst in, e.g., the synthesis of methanol. In many of its applications, an important property is the specific surface area of ZnO. Two ways have been proposed for the preparation of zinc oxide with high specific surface area. The first possibility is the synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles [3, 4]. But there are still problems with the handling of the small particles during the preparation or the use as catalyst. Small particles are difficult to recover from their “mother liquor” and they will cause high pressure drop in a fixed-bed reactor if used as such. The second method of preparing zinc oxide with a large specific surface area is the direct synthesis of mesoporous zinc oxide as prepared by Jiu et al. [5] and Jaramillo et al. [6] with a disordered pore system. Here we report our attempts to synthesize mesoporous zinc oxide with an ordered pore system using a carbon replica method.…