Effect of partial fluorination on the Lewis sites of microcrystalline γ-alumina studied by adsorption of pyridine as a probe molecule: A quantum chemical cluster model study

► We studied the effects of fluorination of γ-alumina on the Lewis sites' acidity. ► Partial fluorination of the surface increases the acidity of the exposed Al-sites. ► This is manifested as a ~ 10% increase of the interaction energies. ► Shifts of adsorbed pyridine ν19b and ν8a modes upon fluorination were calculated. ► Counterpoise-corrected PESs have to be explored to reproduce the experimental data.