Reverse-microemulsion-mediated sol-gel

Barium hexaaluminate (BHA) has been prepared by a reverse microemulsion-mediated sol-gel method " . Several important preparation parameters were investigated in this work. Nanoparticles with excellent thermal stability could be obtained under optimal preparation conditions when compared to conventional sol-gel derived materials. This stability improvement is believed to occur since crystallization to the desired hexaaluminate phase took place at a relatively low temperature. Furthermore, this material has been tested as a catalyst for methane combustion . The light-olf temperature for 1 vol.% CH4 in air when using pure BHA as catalyst was observed to be 590 °C. This temperature could be lowered to 400 °C by depositing Ce02 on the catalyst. 

Jang, J.K. and Yoon, H. (2004) Novel fabrication of size-tunable silica nanombes using a reverse-microemulsion-mediated sol-gel method. Advanced Materials, 16(9-10), 799. 

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