The “cationic” route for synthesis of mesoporous
alumina was described by Cabrera et al. [19] using
hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide in combination
with triethanol amine in water. The authors
claimed that varying the ratio among surfactant, water
and triethanol amine (the “atrane” route) made
it possible to adjust the pore size between 3.3 and
6.0 nm. This synthesis approach was extended to other
mesoporous oxide systems [21]. This procedure would
be extremely useful for tailoring the pore size diameter;
however, it seems not to be readily reproducible