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Nanoscale observation of morphological transformation during ageing of silica and silica-alumina

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Abstract

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used for in-situ observation of nanoscale morphological transformations during the ageing step in sol-gel synthesis. Silica, alumina and silica-alumina samples with different Si/Al ratios were prepared from inorganic salt precursors and geled at low pH. Silica and silica-alumina samples formed branch-like gel network made of nanometer-sized clusters. During ageing at room temperature, the overall structure of the gel network remained unchanged but the clusters underwent phase transformation, coaslesence, coarsening, fragmentation, as well as dissolution resulting in the internal restructuring of the gel material. Morphological transformation associated with crystallization of pseudo-boehmite phase was observed for the alumina samples. These nanometer-scale processes are expected to play a key role in dictating the material properties of the final sol-gel product.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, P. R. China

    Nan Yao & King Lun Yeung

  2. State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P. O. Box 110, Dalian, 116023, P. R. China

    Guoxing Xiong

Authors
  1. Nan Yao
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  2. King Lun Yeung
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  3. Guoxing Xiong
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Correspondence to Nan Yao.

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Yao, N., Yeung, K.L. & Xiong, G. Nanoscale observation of morphological transformation during ageing of silica and silica-alumina. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 39, 139–150 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-006-7144-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-006-7144-1

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