Sucrose synthesis of nanoparticulate alumina

• Published in: Journal of materials science letters 2002-11, Vol.21 (22), p.1773-1775
• Main Authors: MITCHELL, L. D, WHITFIELD, P. S, MARGESON, J, BEAUDOIN, J. J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chemistry; Colloidal state and disperse state; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Exact sciences and technology; General and physical chemistry; Materials science; Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization; Physics; Powders
• ISSN: 0261-8028
• DOI: 10.1023/A:1020937224402

The synthesis of nanoparticulate alpha-Al2O3 at 600 C using a sucrose-based polymer dispersion techniques was reported by Das et al. (2001). This is of interest, as gamma-Al2O3 is frequently an unwanted intermediate phase in the conversion of nanoparticulate amorphous alumina into nanoparticulate alpha-Al2O3. Gamma-Al2O3 has a relatively disordered structure, but usually requires temperatures on the order of 1100 C to transform completely to the stable alpha-Al2O3 phase (Levin and Brandon, 1998). In this study, a dispersed alumina with a very high surface area was prepared by complexation and dispersion in a sucrose solution, which was then charrde and calcined to produce the final product. The material calcined at 600 C in this study differed from that described by Das et al. (2001), in that it was poor crystalline gamma-Al2O3 and had a much higher surface area, although it did appear to contain isolated alpha-Al2O3 crystallites. These differences may be explained by the use of a much higher sucrose to cation ratio.