Hydrothermal synthesis of submicrometer crystals of boehmite

The effect of solvents, mechanically ground gibbsites and amorphous hydrated alumina gels on the formation of well-crystallized and submicrometer-sized crystals of boehmite was studied. Nearly monodispersed boehmite particles of 0.2–0.3 μm with a parallelogram shape were hydrothermally synthesized from ball-milled gibbsite in water at 200°C for 6 h. The 100 nm-sized crystals of boehmite were prepared from amorphous hydrated alumina gels at 255°C for 24 h.