Synthesis and Characterization of Porous Magnesium Aluminate Spinel by Hydrothermal Process

Magnesium aluminate spinel has a great prospect in catalyst supports due to the porous structure, good catalytic activity, high thermal stability and the presence of two active centers as acid and alkaline. The magnesium aluminate spinel powders were synthesized by a hydrothermal process. The samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms, respectively. The particle surface with the laminated structure increases with the increase of hydrothermal temperature and hydrothermal time. The spinel has a worm-like porous structure, and the pores become smaller and well-distributed under hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide condition. The phase of the spinel appears at 450°C and the perfect crystalline structure emerges at 600°C. The percentage of Mg Al2O4 spinel increases with the increase of heat treatment temperature. The spinel has a great specific surface area(i.e., 245.68–58.65 m2/g) when the calcinating temperature increases from 500 to 1200°C. Moreover, the specific surface area is 195.11 m2/g 1 at.% hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide.