| Abstract
| - High-surface-area zinc aluminate spinels with mesopore networks are prepared through a self-generated template pathway using a Zn−Al layered double hydroxide precursor, which involves calcination of the precursor followed by selective leaching of the zinc oxide template. These as-prepared ZnAl2O4 spinels display good abilities to photodecompose phenol under UV irraditaion.
- Zinc aluminate spinels (ZnAl2O4) with mesopore networks and unusually high specific surface areashave been prepared through a self-generated template pathway using a single-source Zn−Al layereddouble hydroxide as precursor. This strategy involves calcination of the molecular precursor at 500 °Cor above, followed by selective leaching of the self-generated zinc oxide template from the resultantcalcined products. The specific surface area of ZnAl2O4 obtained after calcination at 500 °C is as highas 253 m2 g-1 and then decreases gradually with calcination temperature. The templating effect of self-generated ZnO is the essential factor directing the formation of the present high-surface-area ZnAl2O4spinels with interconnected mesopore networks. Since the precursor has a uniform distribution of metalcations on an atomic level, the formation of spinel requires a low temperature and short calcination time.Further, through photocatalytic investigation, these as-prepared ZnAl2O4 spinels displayed better abilitiesto photodecompose phenol under UV irradiation due to their higher surface areas structure, compared toZnAl2O4 sample prepared by the conventional solid-state method.
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