High-throughput centrifugal evaporation for mesoporous alumina powder synthesis via evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA)†

Abstract

The evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) process is commonly employed to synthesise mesoporous materials, such as mesoporous alumina. Typically, recovering mesoporous alumina in powder form takes several days due to the need for controlled solvent evaporation conditions. The mesostructure obtained from the EISA process is highly sensitive to these conditions, which can sometimes hinder reproducibility. This paper presents an improved EISA method using a centrifugal evaporator, which enables the rapid recovery of mesoporous alumina powder (approximately 2 h) from multiple precursor solutions under controlled evaporation conditions. The advantages of using a centrifugal evaporator over traditional vacuum evaporation methods include: (1) the reduction of bumping and foaming due to centrifugal force; (2) resistance to evaporated gaseous HCl; and (3) the ability to evaporate multiple samples simultaneously. This enhanced EISA process is expected to accelerate the research progress of powdery mesoporous materials.