Textural features of highly ordered Al-MCM-41 molecular sieve studied by X-ray diffraction, nitrogen adsorption and transmission electron microscopy

The preparation of a Al-MCM-41 mesoporous materials has been carried out using silica-gel and pseudoboehmite as silica and aluminum sources, respectively, and surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide as structure template. The textural properties of the calcined Al-MCM-41 were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and N2 isothermal adsorption measurements. The hexagonal structure parameter ao was calculated based on d(100) XRD reflection as 4.75 nm. TEM images revealed the formation of a well-ordered Al-MCM-41. Accordingly, nitrogen adsorption measurements (BJH) showed a material with very narrow distribution and medium pore diameter of 3.14 nm. Mesopore volume based on adsorbed nitrogen was 0.51 cm3 g− 1. Through a combination of XRD and N2 adsorption data, the thickness of the channel walls of 1.61 nm could be calculated.