Mesoporous alumina made from a bicontinuous liquid crystalline phase

A monoolein-based bicontinuous cubic phase was used as a template for the preparation of a mesoporous alumina. H-1 NMR was used to identify the cubic liquid crystalline region. Transmission electron microscopy images showed the crystallite sizes to be in the range of 3-10 nm and it is these crystallites which appear to be connected with each other in an amorphous matrix in between. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller specific surface area of the material was 236 m(2)/g and had a pore volume of 0.188 cm(3) g(-1). The material was mainly mesoporous, having an average pore diameter of 38 Angstrom. (C) 2001 Academic Press.