Synthesis of mesoporous alumina using polyvinyl alcohol template as porosity control additive

The effects of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) template and calcinations temperatures on the characteristics of the alumina films were investigated. The samples were prepared by sol-gel method using aluminium triisopropylate precursor. The variation of microstructure, pore size and pore volume, were determined by nitrogen adsorption/desorption analysis and the macropore size distribution was determined using mercury porosimetry. TEM and SEM were used to observe the texture of these samples and the particle morphology. Experimental observation after drying and annealing shows that it is possible to produce crack free nanoporous alumina films using polyvinyl alcohol template. The obtained alumina samples have macroporous microstructure (with the average pore diameter dav = 34.9 μm, for sample prepared with 42.5 wt% of PVA addition and annealed at 1000°C) with high portion of mesopores (with the average pore diameter Dav = 14.0 nm for the same sample)