Mechanically robust ZrO2 foams with 3D reticular architecture prepared from chemical‐modified ZrO2 powder.

Engineering mechanically robust ZrO2 foams with three‐dimensional (3D) reticular architecture and high porosity is extremely challenging. In current work, we presented an approach for constructing such cellular ceramics via a combined polyurethane foaming and chemical grafting method. Ester functional groups were chemically grafted on the ZrO2 powder surface to enhance its dispersibility. This approach caused the micron‐sized windows to assemble onto the cell wall of porous framework, contributing to 3D interconnected reticular architecture. The resulting products with such cellular architecture possessed a high porosity level of 89.2% and maintained an ultrahigh compressive strength of 8.5 MPa. Our results open up new opportunities for fabricating high‐performance ZrO2 foams toward practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]