Low-temperature preparation of nano-sized Al2TiO5 powder via non-hydrolytic sol-gel route with Al metal as the aluminum source

Al₂TiO₅ powder was prepared using the non-hydrolytic sol-gel route, with Al powder and titanium tetrachloride as precursor materials. The synthesized powder was characterized via XRD, DSC-TG, TEM, FTIR, FE-SEM, and laser particle size analyzer. The results indicated that Al₂TiO₅ powder can be synthesized at 750 ℃ via gelation when the aluminum-to-alcohol molar ratio was 1:14 and titanium tetrachloride concentration was 0.9 mol/L. The average particle size of Al₂TiO₅ powder was 80 nm using reflux gelation and 35 nm with direct drying gelation. The Al metal utilized the hydrogen chloride produced in situ to activate itself and formed Al-O-Ti hetero-bonds through non-hydrolytic polycondensation. The Al-O-Ti hetero-bonds underwent an exothermic reaction at around 695 ℃ to form Al₂TiO₅. This research has broadened the range of precursor materials available for preparing Al₂TiO₅ using the non-hydrolytic sol-gel route.