Structure of С@Al2O by multinuclear solid-state NMR spectroscopy

Abstract

The ²⁷Al, ¹H MAS NMR method is used to study initial nanosized metastable aluminum oxides of a pseudoboehmite series (γ- and δ-Al₂O₃) after being coated with graphene (С@Al₂O₃) and annealed in the air (С@Al₂O₃-Т). It is demonstrated that aluminum nanoparticles coated with graphene and annealed at high temperatures (to 750°C for γ and 1180°C for δ) preserve their phase composition but differ from initial oxides by a very low concentration of defects (ОН groups). After the annealing of the graphene coating the hydroxyl cover of oxides is reduced, however, the set of ОН groups differs greatly from that of the initial oxides. Only one type of terminal ОН groups with a ~0.2 ppm shift and one type of bridging μ²-ОН groups with a 1.8 ppm shift for γ-Al₂O₃ from OH-μ²-AlVAl_n and 2.1 ppm for δ-Al₂O₃ OH-μ²-AlIVAl_n are observed. The data obtained make it possible to characterize in detail the δ-Al₂O₃ pure phase.