Mesoporous ZnO nanoparticles have been synthesized with tremendous increase in specific surface area of up to 578 m(2)/g which was 5.54 m(2)/g in previous reports (J. Phys. Chem. C 113:14676-14680, 2009). Different mesoporous ZnO nanoparticles with average pore sizes ranging from 7.22 to 13.43 nm and specific surface area ranging from 50.41 to 578 m(2)/g were prepared through the sol-gel method via a simple evaporation-induced self-assembly process. The hydrolysis rate of zinc acetate was varied...