Pentacoordinated Al(Al~Ⅴ)species in silica-alumina are promising to promote the formation of acid sites or act as surface defects for tailoring single-atom catalysts.However,pentahedral coordination(Al~Ⅴ)is rarely observed in conventionally prepared silica-alumina.Here,we show that high population and dispersion of Al~Ⅴ species on the surface of amorphous silica-alumina(ASA)can be achieved by means of flame spray pyrolysis.High resolution TEM/EDX,high magnetic-field NMR and DFT calculations are employed to characterize the structure of as-prepared ASAs.Solid-state ^(27)Al multi-quantum MAS NMR experiments show that most of the Al~Ⅴspecies are formed independently from the alumina phase and are accessible for guest molecules on the surface.Upon water adsorption,these Al~Ⅴ species are transformed to Al~Ⅵ species,structurally similar to surface Al~Ⅳ species,as confirmed by DFT calculations.The outstanding catalytic activity of as-synthesized ASA is demonstrated using the in situ H/D exchange reaction with deuterated benzene as an example.The Al~Ⅴ-rich ASA provides a much lower activation energy(～30 kJ/mol)than that reported for zeolite H-ZSM-5(～60 kJ/mol).The superior catalytic performance is attributed to the high Al~Ⅴcontent promoting the surface active sites in ASA.The knowledge gained on the synthesis of Al~Ⅴ-rich ASAs and the nature of aluminum coordination in these materials could pave the way to more efficient silica-alumina based catalysts.
