An investigation of commercial gamma-Al 2 O 3 nanoparticles

Abstract

We present an analysis of the morphology and crystal structure of commercial gamma-alumina nanoparticles. Characterisation was carried out with a combination of several techniques such as transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), selected area electron diffraction (SAED), in parallel with X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). TEM analysis of crystallite size and structure is in good agreement with XRD. HRTEM showed evidence for surface reconstruction on facetted cubeoctahedral nanoparticles. This is similar to results observed for cubeoctahedral nanoparticles of magnetite Fe 3 O 4 .