Jp. Reymond et al., TEXTURAL CHARACTERIZATION OF SILICA AND SILICA-ALUMINA GELS - COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES, JOURNAL OF SOL-GEL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, 8(1-3), 1997, pp. 189-194
The porous texture of silica and silica-alumina hydrogels has been stu
died by means of thermoporometry measurements. The texture of the xero
gels resulting from spray-drying of silica-alumina hydrogels is then e
valuated by different methods: BET, Hg-porosimetry and thermoporometry
. As each method is based on different physical principles and assumpt
ions, differences are observed between the results. However, these res
ults are complementary and their comparison leads to a better knowledg
e of the texture of the catalyst particles. A good agreement is observ
ed between thermoporometry and nitrogen adsorption-desorption measurem
ents, whereas mercury porosimetry results are very different. Silica-a
lumina gels appear as mainly mesoporous materials.