Controlling the phase transformation of alumina for enhanced stability and catalytic properties

Current transition alumina catalysts require the presence of significant amounts of toxic, environmentally deleterious dopants for their stabilization. Herein, we report a simple and novel strategy to engineer transition aluminas to withstand aging temperatures up to 1200°C without inducing the transformation to low-surface-area α-alumina and without requiring dopants. By judiciously optimizing the abundance of dominant facets and the interparticle distance, we can control the temperature of the phase transformation from θ-alumina to α-alumina and the specific surface sites on the latter. These specific surface sites provide favorable interactions with supported metal catalysts, leading to improved metal dispersion and greatly enhanced catalytic activity for hydrocarbon oxidation. The results presented herein not only provide molecular-level insights into the critical factors causing deactivation and phase transformation of aluminas but also pave the way for the development of catalysts with excellent activity for catalytic hydrocarbon oxidation.