Synthesis and characterization of a new aluminium-based compound

Abstract

A new aluminium polynuclear crystalline species, Al₁₃(OH)₃₀(H₂O)₁₅Cl₉ has been synthesized and characterized. It is a particular case of the Al₁₃(OH)_30−y(H₂O)_18−xCl₉·zH₂O family. It has been obtained from aluminium waste cans treated with HCl solution in strong acid media, followed by an ageing period. The crystalline structure of the complex was determined by XRD spectroscopy. Twelve reflections were found and indexed with the DICVOL04 software. Morphologically, a flattened preferred orientation was observed by SEM and FESEM. The chemical structure was studied by several absorption spectroscopy techniques: FTIR, ATR-FTIR and Raman dispersion spectroscopy. The coordination of the aluminium nuclei was determined by Al-MAS-NMR. Only octahedral sites were observed. Thermal characterization of the compound was performed by evolved gas analysis (EGA) coupled to simultaneous TGA–DSC.