Separation of Al13 from polyaluminum chloride by sulfate precipitation and nitrate metathesis

A methodology of preparing high purity Al13 through chemical precipitation/separation was developed. Polyaluminum chloride (PACl) with medium high concentration (0.1–1.1 mol/L as Al) was used as the source of Al13. The factors that affect separation process were thoroughly examined. Intermediate and final products of Al13 were characterized morphologically and structurally using SEM, XRD, and solid-state 27Al NMR. The purity of obtained Al13 product was verified using both ferron assay and 27Al NMR. It was found that the separation of Al13 from medium high concentration PACl was feasible and the purity of Al13 product could be higher than 95%.