Porous ZnAl2O4 synthesized by a modified citrate technique

A modified citrate precursor technique is proposed for the preparation of porous ZnAl2O4. In this technique, ZnAl2O4 was obtained by calcination of a citrate precursor in N2 (0.5% O2) at 800 °C, followed by annealing in air at 400 °C. The ZnAl2O4 sample was characterized by X-ray diffraction, transition electron microscopy and surface area analyses (BET method), and the results showed that the ZnAl2O4 had a high surface area of 230 m2/g and controllable particle size from 5 nm to 20 nm. A Pd/ZnAl2O4 catalyst prepared based on the porous ZnAl2O4 shows good catalytic activity, indicating that ZnAl2O4 as prepared is a promising catalyst support material.