Selection of iron precursor for preparation of 3D-solids of hydrophobic composites with γ-alumina and carbon nanostructured materials

Abstract

An easy handling formulation of hybrid material, which could approach carbon nanomaterials application to industrial catalysts, of carbon nanofibers (CNF) and carbon nanotubes (CNT) over γ-alumina, C@alumina is described. The study discussed the selection of iron precursor to obtain mechanical stable hybrids by analysis of coverage effect of process preparation of seminal γ-alumina pellets, in order to evaluate the yield of carbon nanomaterials (CNFs/CNTs) coverage on the alumina pellets. Each C@alumina series were synthetized by catalytic vapor decomposition of acetylene at 1023 K, and were studied according to the nature of active phase, the iron precursor, by the light of characterization results obtained by thermogravimetric analysis and Scanning Electron Microscopy. Besides, ethanol reaction is employed as chemical reaction test for acid-base surface distribution analysis. Finally, the hydrophobic behavior of every precursor hybrid sample is discussed attending to contact angle. So, it was discussed from de nature of iron precursors of acetylacetonate, chloride, sulfate, cyanide, pentacarbonyl, phthalocyanine, 1,10-phenanthroline, ferrocene the surface structure of 3d-solids obtained, and it is correlated with the effects of iron precursor loading, pKa, and polar surface area (PSA) and metal-surface interaction. It was evidenced the effect of iron precursor selection over the C@alumina hybrid hydrophobic properties.