Materials Chemistry and Physics, Vol.141, No.2-3, 951-959, 2013
Synthesis and characterization of a dendrimeric polycitrate-alumoxane nano composite
This work illustrates the synthesis of a three-dimensional dendrimeric hyper-branched alumoxane nanostructure, named as polycitrate-Alumoxane (PC-A), through condensation reactions between the hydroxyl groups of boehmite nanoparticles (BNs) and the carboxylic groups of citric acid (CA), producing carboxylate alumoxane linkages. FTIR, SEM, TEM, XRD and TG-DTA characterized the hybrid inorganic-organic nano composite. The dendrimeric and hyper-branched porous network structure, including branches of 5-15 nm in diameter was detected. The mechanism of polybranching and dendrimerization was proposed and discussed. It was coated on the surface of a metal mesh to study its hydrophilicity, through contact angle measurement, using oil and water separately. The material was also proved to be hydrophilic, due to its large number of carboxyl and hydroxyl groups. PC-A nanostructure was thermally stable up to 199 degrees C. Thermal degradation of the material led to the formation of gibbsite at about 550 degrees C, proving a reverse change of phase from boehmite to gibbsite. Thus, the PC-A, which was synthesized from BNs, finally produced gibbsite on burning. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.