A Critical Role of Fuel Molar Ratio in the Microwave Combustion Synthesis of Nano Size α-Al2O3

Abstract

Nano size highly crystalline α-Al₂O₃ powders have been synthesized by the microwave combustion approach. A study of the evolution of crystalline phase of obtained powders and the morphology of the particles were accomplished through X-ray diffraction and High resolution transmission electronic microscopy. The effect of metal to fuel molar ratios on the crystal structure, particle size, and morphology of the powders was examined. Microwave combustion gave finer particles with very small agglomerate size as revealed by TEM analysis. Also the results obtained allow the identification of the highly crystalline single-phase αAl₂O₃ powder was obtained after microwave combustion at 900 w for 5 min with metal/fuel molar ratio as 1:3.

Keywords: Microwave Combustion, Mixed Oxide, Synthesis, Characterization.