Activating the Growth of High Surface Area Alumina Using a Liquid Galinstan Alloy

The growth of high surface area alumina has been investigated with the use of a liquid Galinstan alloy [66.5% (wt %) Ga, 20.5% In and 13.0% Sn] as an activator for aluminum. In this process, the aluminum is slowly dissolved into the gallium-indium-tin alloy, which is then selectively oxidized at ambient temperature and pressure under a humid stream of flowing CO₂ or N₂ to yield amorphous alumina. This preparative route represents a simple and low toxicity approach to obtain amorphous high surface area alumina with very low water content. The as-synthesized high surface area alumina aerogel was a blue-colored solid owing to the Rayleigh scattering by its dendritic fibrous nanostructure consisting of mainly alumina with small amounts of water. Upon annealing at 850 °C, the amorphous product transformed into γ-Al₂O₃, as well as θ-Al₂O₃ upon annealing at 1050 °C. Elemental analysis by energy-dispersive spectroscopy provides further evidence that the high surface area alumina is composed of only aluminum and oxygen. The surface area of the amorphous alumina varied from ∼79 to ∼140 m²/g, depending on the initial weight percentage of aluminum used in the alloy. A correlation between the initial concentration of aluminum in the alloy and the surface area of the alumina product was found to peak at ∼30% Al. These results suggest a novel route to the formation of amorphous alumina aerogel-type materials.