Aluminium oxide-hydroxides obtained by hydrothermal synthesis: influence of thermal treatment on phase composition and textural characteristics

Aluminium oxide-hydroxides obtained by means of the hydrothermal synthesis of aluminium nanopowder are of great interest in terms of the potential supports for heterogeneous catalysts due its high specific surface area (200...300 m2/g) and pore size of 4...17 nm. In this work the influence of thermal treatment (150...1300 °C) on structural and phase composition, specific surface area and porosity of aluminium oxide-hydroxides has been investigated. Nanostructured γ-Al2O3 (T=400 °C) was found to have the specific surface area of 328 m2/g and average pore size of ∼9 nm. The thermal treatment of aluminium oxide- hydroxides at the temperature of higher and lower than 400 °C has caused the reduction of specific surface area and overall pore volume.