Aluminum speciation and thermal evolution of aluminas resulting from modified Yoldas sols

Aluminas resulting from sols prepared via a modified Yoldas procedure were studied with differential thermal analysis (DTA), differential thermal gravimetrie (DTG), 27Al nuclear magnetic resonance (27Al MAS NMR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) concerning their thermal properties, aluminum speciation and phase content.Hydrolysis of aluminum-sec  -butoxide in aluminum nitrate solutions allowed to prepare stable sols with varying NO3-/Al molar ratios, solids contents and pH values. Resulting sols contained different aluminum species including also Al13 polycations. Sol preparation conditions also determined aluminum speciation in solid products obtained after thermal treatments of gels obtained from these sols. Al13 polycations and AlO5 species were found to play an important role for thermally induced transformation from amorphous products via eta-Al2O3 to alpha-Al2O3. Intermediately formed eta-Al2O3 promotes the phase transformation to alpha-Al2O3.

Influence of pH value of parent alumina sols on thermal evolution of resulting xerogels.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide