Synthesis of spinous ZrO2 core-shell microspheres with good hydrogen storage properties by the pollen bio-template route

Spinous ZrO2 core shell microspheres were synthesized by a hydrothermal method using pollen as a biotemplate. The samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive spectroscopy and the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller and Sieverts methods. The results show that, through controlling the temperature of calcinations, inorganic/organic heteromaterial semi-crystallized ZrO2 core shell microspheres, inorganic/organic heteromaterial crystallized ZrO2 core-shell microspheres and pure crystallized ZrO2 core-shell microspheres can be achieved. The fabricated ZrO2 core-shell microspheres have an excellent hydrogen storage performance, reaching a hydrogen uptake of 1.521 wt.% at 298 K under 5 MPa. (C) 2011 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.