Effects of Seeding with Nanocrystallites and Addition of Inorganic Alumina Sol on Crystallization of Alkoxide Alumina Gel

Abstract

This paper reports a method for producing α-Al2O3 at low temperature from aluminum alkoxide using a combination of seeding of α-Al2O3 nanocryatallites and adding of inorganic alumina sol. An alkoxide alumina sol was obtained by hydrolyzing aluminum isopropoxide in water at 80°C and then peptizing the hydrolyzed aluminum isopropoxide using acetic acid at 80°C. An inorganic alumina sol was obtained by producing aluminum compound with a homogeneous precipitation method using aluminum nitrate and urea in aqueous solution and then peptizing the aluminum compound using acetic acid at room temperature. α-Al2O3 nanocrystallites were added to the alkoxide alumina sol containing the inorganic alumina sol. The addition of inorganic alumina sol provided successful fabrication of a crack-free α-Al2O3-seded alumina film by a spin-coating technique. The sol containing α-Al2O3 nanocrystallites was transformed to an α-Al2O3-seeded alumina gel by drying the sol at room temperature. The non-seeded alumina gel was crystallized into γ-Al2O3 at a temperature below 900°C. In contrast, the alumina seeded at 1% α-Al2O3 nanocrystallites content began to be transformed to α-Al2O3 by annealing at the temperature. The seeding and the adding promoted crystallization of the alumina gel into α-Al2O3. The promotion of crystallization was significant with an increase in α-Al2O3 nanocrystallites content by weight in the final seeded alumina gel.