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Introduction to Nanotechnology

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200 OPTICAL AND VIBRATIONAL SPECTROSCOPY<br />

Figure 8.5. FTIR spectra of boron nitride nanopowder surfaces after activation at 875 K (tracing<br />

a), after subsequent deuteration (tracing b), and (c) difference spectrum of a subtracted from b<br />

(tracing c). [From M.4. Bara<strong>to</strong>n and L. Merhari, P. Quintard, V. Lorezenvilli, Langrnuir, 9, 1486<br />

(1 993).]<br />

An example that demonstrates the power of infrared spectroscopy <strong>to</strong> elucidate<br />

surface features of nanomaterials is the study of y-alumina (A1203), a catalytic<br />

material that can have a large surface area, up <strong>to</strong> 20&300m2/g, due <strong>to</strong> its highly<br />

porous morphology. It has a defect spinel structure, and its large oxygen a<strong>to</strong>ms form<br />

a tetragonally dis<strong>to</strong>rted face-centered cubic lattice (see Section 2.1.2). There are one<br />

octahedral (VI) and two tetrahedral (IV) sites per oxygen a<strong>to</strong>m in the lattice, and<br />

aluminum ions located at these sites are designated by the notations vIA13+ and<br />

IvA13+, respectively, in Fig. 8.7. There are a <strong>to</strong>tal of five configurations assumed by<br />

adsorbed hydroxyl groups that bond <strong>to</strong> aluminum ions at the surface, and these are<br />

sketched in the figure. The first two, types Ia and Ib, involve the simple cases of OH<br />

bonded <strong>to</strong> tetrahedrally and octahedrally coordinated aluminum ions, respectively.<br />

The remaining three cases involve the hydroxyl radical bound simultaneously <strong>to</strong> two<br />

or three adjacent trivalent aluminum ions. The frequency shifts assigned <strong>to</strong> these five<br />

surface species, which are listed in the figure (v(OH)), are easily distinguished by<br />

infrared spectroscopy.<br />

The FTIR spectra from y-alumina nanopowder before and after deuteration<br />

presented in Fig. 8.8 display broad absorption bands with structure arising from

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