Chemical Synthesis and Characterization of Nano Alumina, Nano Composite of Carbon–Alumina and Their Comparative Studies

Abstract

Abstract Aluminium oxide (Al2O3) nano particles were synthesized by using both the sol gel technique and solid state reaction (SSR) method. Different proportion of nano carbon cones from 0.5% to 3.5% is doped with aluminium nitrate nano hydrate and annealed subsequently at 1000°C for 3 h to synthesize the nano composite of carbon–alumina. The synthesized samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction to identify the presence of different phases and transitions during this process. The average crystallite size of the nano alumina is found to be 45 nm by sol gel and 43 nm by SSR method respectively by Debye–Scherrer method. Average crystallite size and lattice strain of nano alumina are also estimated from Williamson Hall (WH) plot analysis. It is found to be 69 nm with the strain of 3.3×10−3 in sol gel, and in SSR method, it is 72 nm with the strain is 3.9×10−3. The interplanar distance of various planes of alumina are estimated and compared with JCPDS values. Similar analysis has also been extended for the nano composite of carbon–alumina. The surface morphology of the samples are analyzed using scanning electron microscopy and rough estimate of the crystallites is also given. From the Raman analysis, the presence of alpha phase of alumina has been confirmed. The presence of carbon in the composite has been established through diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The FTIR spectra of the composite samples ensured the presence of Al–O–Al, O–H and C=O bonds.