| The strength, thermal stability, and pore structure and morphology are key elements in design of support material. Furthermore, co or subsequent functionalization of the surfaces are equally if not more important. This dissertation addresses the issue of synthesis of alumina supports and introduces a new method. The path involves successful use of surfactant templating, and supercritical drying. Initially, thermally stable surfactant alumina was synthesized through sol-gel method, template removal, drying, and calcinations steps. Alternative methods for surfactant removal, soxhlet extraction and entrainer aided supercritical extraction are compared. The drying paths and effect of calcination temperatures are also studied. The synthesized alumina is characterized through XRD, BET, FTIR and SEM.; The approach is extended to study the co-precipitation of Nickel on Alumina. XRD and BET measurements were used to follow the removal of solvents and templates as well as tracking the textural properties for the synthesized gel. EDS and SEM were employed to study the distribution of the nickel on the alumina support and the percentages were compared with the starting mixture of the sol gels. |
