Synthesis of ordered mesoporous alumina with high thermal stability using aluminum nitrate as precursor

•A highly ordered mesoporous alumina with high BET surface area and extremely high thermal stability.•A new synthetic route for preparing ordered mesoporous alumina.•The solvothermal pre-hydrolysis process to obtain more Al-OH species.•The inexpensive and easily available inorganic aluminum nitrate as precursor.

By using the inexpensive aluminum nitrate as precursor, a highly ordered mesoporous alumina with high thermal stability has been synthesized successfully via an evaporation-induced self-assembly pathway associated with solvothermal pre-hydrolysis process. The resultant mesoporous alumina maintains the ordered hexagonal mesostructure, narrow pore-size distribution, high BET surface area and large pore volume even after thermal treatment at 900 °C.

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