Ordered crystalline mesoporous γ-alumina fabricated by vacuum-promoted self-assembly and alkaline hydrothermal method

As a commonly adopted approach to mesoporous alumina (MA), evaporation induced self-assembly (EISA) method with precursors containing chloride (e.g. AlCl3) faces a challenge to yield an ordered MA with crystalline pore walls because the chloride ion (Cl-) could affect the assembly and crystallization, resulting from the strong coordination of Cl- to aluminum. Herein, a vacuum-promoted self-assembly and alkaline hydrothermal approach was developed and realized the preparation of ordered crystalline MA from AlCl3. The obtained MA possesses ordered mesoporous structure, crystallized pore walls, narrow pore size distribution, large surface (390 m(2)/g) and shows a superior catalytic performances towards catalytic dehydration of ethanol to ethylene. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.