Low-Temperature Synthesis of Highly Dispersed Calcium Aluminate

A new approach to prepare highly dispersed calcium aluminate at temperatures from 900°C with desired properties (bulk density starting from 0.015 g/cm3, particle size falling in the range of 7–42 nm) is described, which consists of step-by-step heat treatment of a concentrated aqueous solution of Al(NO3)3, Ca(NO3)2, and C6H8O7 in the molar ratio CaO : Al2O3 = 1 : 2. The main stages of the synthesis are studied by X-ray powder diffraction, IR spectroscopy, as well as scanning and transmission electron microscopies. The highly dispersed calcium aluminate obtained using the developed approach has pronounced luminescent properties.