Soft-templating synthesis and properties of mesoporous alumina–titania

Mesoporous alumina–titania materials, having various molar compositions of aluminum and titanium, were synthesized via cooperative self-assembly of the corresponding metal alkoxides and Pluronic® P123 triblock copolymer (soft template) in ethanolic solution under acidic conditions. The resulting mixed metal oxides possess ordered mesopores at low to equal molar compositions of titanium in relation to aluminum (up to 50%) and worm-like mesostructures at higher molar compositions of titanium (50–75%). In addition, these mesoporous oxides exhibit high BET surface areas (up to 438 m2/g), large pore widths (from 7.37 to 18.55 nm) and pore volumes (from 0.16 to 0.64 cm3/g), narrow pore size distributions, crystalline pore walls and high thermal stability.