Structure of aluminosilicate-supported nickel and iron oxides nanocomposites in gaseous and aqueous media

A series of mixed oxides was synthesized by deposition of a guest phase on a highly dispersed oxide matrix. Fumed nanooxides SiO2, Al2O3, SiO2/Al2O3, and SiO2/Al2O3/TiO2 with the specific surface area of 65-91 m2/g were selected as highly dispersed matrices. NiO/FexOy was deposited as a guest oxide using solvate-stimulated modification of a surface of fumed nanocarriers with nickel nitrate and iron(III) formate and subsequent heat treatment up to 600 °C to form NiO/FexOy. The aim of this work was to study the influence of the composition and structure of fumed oxide matrices and deposited guest phase on the behavior of the composites in gaseous and aqueous media using XRD, nitrogen adsorption and SEM/EDX, and quasi-elastic light scattering (QELS) methods. The lowtemperature nitrogen adsorption isotherms have a sigmoid shape with a narrow hysteresis loop characteristic of mesoporous materials. The specific surface area of composites varies from 65 to 120 m2/g. SEM data show denser aggregate structure of nanocomposites compared to the initial carriers. The primary particle size was in the 30-60 nm range. According to QELS data, there is a tendency to form aggregates of 100 nm - 10 µm in size in the aqueous media. The XRD method shows that the deposited metal oxides are in the form of crystalline phases of NiO with crystallites of 7-23 nm in size, but the iron oxide reflexes were not identified for NiO-containing composites.