Methanol oxidation on Au/TiO2 catalysts

We have investigated the adsorption and reaction of methanol with Au/TiO₂ catalysts using a pulsed flow reactor, DRIFTS and TPD. The TiO₂ (P25) surface adsorbed a full monolayer of methanol, much of it in a dissociative manner, forming methoxy groups associated with the cationic sites, and hydroxyl groups at the anions. The methoxy is relatively stable until 250 °C, at which point decomposition occurs, producing mainly dimethyl ether by a bimolecular surface reaction. As the concentration of methoxy on the surface diminishes, so the mechanism reverts to a de-oxygenation pathway, producing mainly methane and water (at ~330 °C in TPD), but also with some coincident CO and hydrogen. Au catalysts were prepared by the deposition-precipitation method to give Au loadings between 0.5–3 wt %. The effect of low levels of Au on the reactivity is marked. The pathway which gives methane, which is characteristic of titania, remains, but a new feature of the reaction is the evolution of CO₂ and H₂ at lower temperature (a peak is seen in TPD at 220 °C), and the elimination of the DME-producing state. Clearly this is associated with the presence of Au and appears to be due to the production of a formate species on the surface of the Au component. This formate species is mainly involved in the reaction of methanol with the Au/TiO₂ catalysts which results in a combustion pathway being followed, with complete conversion occurring by ~130 °C.     

Competitive Reaction During Decomposition of Hexachlorobenzene Over Ultrafine Ca–Fe Composite Oxide Catalyst

The decomposition of hexachlorobenzene (HCB) has been investigated over ultrafine Ca–Fe composite oxide catalyst (Ca/Fe atomic ratio was 3.4), CaO and α-Fe₂O₃ by using in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS). Adsorption experiments on the surface of oxides monitored by in situ DRIFTS showed that partial oxidation products, i.e., phenolate and acetate species were formed on the surface of Ca–Fe composite oxide. The further studies indicated that Ca–Fe composite oxide catalyst was easier to induce the rupture of C–Cl bond and C–C bond of aromatic rings. The best catalytic activity of Ca–Fe composite oxide may be related to the acidity, which was determined by NH₃–TPD. The products after reaction have been analyzed by XRD and chloride selective electrode. Ca–Fe composite oxide exhibited the highest extent of mineralization for organic chlorine among the different oxides tested. The combined results of current and previous experiments demonstrated that two competitive reactions took place during the decomposition process of HCB: (1) hydrodechlorination resulting in the formation of lower chlorinated benzenes and (2) oxidation of aromatic rings leading to the rupture of aromaticity and the formation of oxidation products. The latter is the major process in the coexisted competitive reaction. A possible decomposition pathway was discussed.     

Mechanistic aspects of the water–gas shift reaction on alumina-supported noble metal catalysts: In situ DRIFTS and SSITKA-mass spectrometry studies

Steady-state isotopic transient kinetic analysis (SSITKA) experiments coupled with mass spectrometry were performed for the first time to study essential mechanistic aspects of the water–gas shift (WGS) reaction over alumina-supported Pt, Pd, and Rh catalysts. In particular, the concentrations (μmol g⁻¹) of active intermediate species found in the carbon-path from CO to the CO₂ product gas (use of ¹³CO), and in the hydrogen-path from H₂O to the H₂ product gas (use of D₂O) of the reaction mechanism were determined. It was found that by increasing the reaction temperature from 350 to 500 °C the concentration of active species in both the carbon-path and hydrogen-path increased significantly. Based on the large concentration of active species present in the hydrogen-path (OH/H located on the alumina support), the latter being larger than six equivalent monolayers based on the exposed noble metal surface area (θ > 6.0), the small concentration of OH groups along the periphery of metal-support interface, and the significantly smaller concentration (μmol g⁻¹) of active species present in the carbon-path (adsorbed CO on the noble metal and COOH species on the alumina support and/or the metal-support interface), it might be suggested that diffusion of OH/H species on the alumina support towards catalytic sites present in the hydrogen-path of reaction mechanism might be considered as a slow reaction step. The formation of labile OH/H species is the result of dissociative chemisorption of water on the alumina support, where the role of noble metal is to activate the CO chemisorption and likely to promote formate decomposition into CO₂ and H₂ products. It was found that there is a good correlation between the surface concentration and binding energy of CO on the noble metal (Pt, Pd or Rh) with the activity of alumina-supported noble metal towards the WGS reaction.     

Mechanism for the reduction of NOx on Rh/sulfated titanias

Titanias of different surface areas have been sulfated and used as supports of Rh oxide for the selective catalytic reduction of nitrogen oxides. Only the sulfation of TiO₂ of large surface areas gives strong Br?nsted acid sites, retaining pyridine up to 773 K. Low surface area anatase is unable to retain sulfates. The catalytic activities measured at 523 K, increase with the number of acid sites, and then reach a plateau, showing the intervention of acidity in the SCR. This is true only for Rh but not for Pt. The investigation of the elemental steps on Rh/sulfated TiO₂ by in situ diffuse reflectance spectroscopy permits to clarify a few points: the oxidation of propene, presumably to acetaldehyde, occurs by the reaction with nitrates adsorbed on the support. The further oxidation of this intermediate by NO₂ yields an isocyanate, which can be hydrolysed to ammonia.     

Characterization of AlPO systems,precursors of the novel basic catalyst family AlPON

XPS and DRIFTS (diffuse reflectance infrared spectroscopy) spectra of AlPO systems, formally AlPO₄-Al₂O₃, obtained by the sol-gel method have been studied in order to understand their geometric and electronic structure. Both DRIFTS and XPS demonstrate that the acidbase character of these samples depends on a structural modification. For low phosphorus content an amorphous spinel-like solid is proposed. This geometric arrangement alters the electronic density of oxide ions and phosphorus cations and hence their Lewis acid-base properties with respect to the amorphous solid having aluminium and phosphorus only in tetrahedral arrangement.     

High-sensitivity NO2 gas sensors based on flower-like and tube-like ZnO nanomaterials

Hierarchical flower-like and 1D tube-like ZnO architectures were synthesized by a microemulsion-based solvothermal method. Technologies of XRD, SEM and TEM were used to characterize the morphological and structural properties of the products. The influence of the flower-like and tube-like morphologies on their NO₂ sensing properties was investigated. The experimental results showed that high-sensitivity NO₂ gas sensors were fabricated. The sensitivity of the tube-like ZnO gas sensor was much higher than that of the flower-like ZnO gas sensor and the tube-like ZnO gas sensor exhibited shorter response time. The in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) technique was employed to investigate the NO₂ sensing mechanisms. Free nitrate ions, nitrate and nitrite were the main adsorbed species during the adsorption, and NO also existed in the initial period of surface reoxidation. Furthermore, N₂O was formed via NO⁻ and N₂O₂⁻ stemmed from NO and increased upon rising temperature. Moreover, the PL spectra and the XPS spectra further proved that the intensity of donors (oxygen vacancy (V_O) and zinc interstitial (Zn_i)) and surface oxygen species (O₂⁻ and O₂) involved in the gas sensing mechanism leaded to the different sensitivities.     

NO reduction by CH4over La2O3: temperature‐programmed reaction and in situ DRIFTS studies

The chemistry between NO _x species adsorbed on La₂O₃ and CH₄ was probed by temperature‐programmed reaction (TPR) as well as in situ DRIFTS. During NO reduction by CH₄ in the presence of O₂, NO ₃ ^- does not appear to activate CH₄, thus either an adsorbed O species or an NO ₂ ^- species is more likely to activate CH₄. In the absence of O₂, a different reaction pathway occurs and NO^- or (N₂O₂)^2- species adsorbed on oxygen vacancy sites seem to be active intermediates, and during NO reduction with CH₄ unidentate NO ₃ ^- , which desorbs at high temperature, behaves as a spectator species and is not directly involved in the catalytic sequence. Because reaction products such as CO₂ or H₂O as well as adsorbed oxygen cannot be effectively removed from the surface at lower temperatures, steady‐state catalytic reactions can only be achieved at temperatures above 800 K, even though formation of N₂ and N₂O from NO was observed at much lower temperature during the TPR experiments. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A comparative study of Ag/Al2O3 and Cu/Al2O3 catalysts for the selective catalytic reduction of NO by C3H6

The selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO by C₃H₆ in excess oxygen was evaluated and compared over Ag/Al₂O₃ and Cu/Al₂O₃ catalysts. Ag/Al₂O₃ showed a high activity for NO reduction. However, Cu/Al₂O₃ showed a high activity for C₃H₆ oxidation. The partial oxidation of C₃H₆ gave surface enolic species and acetate species on the Ag/Al₂O₃, but only an acetate species was clearly observed on the Cu/Al₂O₃. The enolic species is a more active intermediate towards NO + O₂ to yield—NCO species than the acetate species on the Ag/Al₂O₃ catalyst. The Ag and Cu metal loadings and phase changes on Al₂O₃ support can affect the activity and selectivity of Ag/Al₂O₃ and Cu/Al₂O₃ catalysts, but the formation of enolic species is the main reason why the activity of the Ag/Al₂O₃ catalyst for NO reduction is higher than that of the Cu/Al₂O₃ catalyst.     

异辛烷蒸汽重整制氢的研究Ⅲ.Gd2O3改性的Pt/CeO2/Al2O3催化剂的性能及表征

在 Pt/CeO_2/Al_2O_3催化剂中掺杂 Gd_2O_3制备了 Pt/Gd_2O_3/CeO_2/Al_2O_3催化剂,用氢程序升温还原(H_2-TPR)、X 射线衍射(XRD)和 CO 吸附原位漫反射红外光谱(DRIFTS)方法对 Gd_2O_3改性前后的 Pt/CeO_2/Al_2O_3催化剂进行了表征。H_2-TPR表征结果显示,Gd_2O_3改性促进了表面 CeO_2的还原,增强了 Pt-CeO_2间的相互作用;XRD 表征结果显示,这种强相互作用促使催化剂中的 Ce~(4+)向Ce~(3+)转变,有利于 CeAlO_3相的生成,抑制了 Pt 及 CeO_2在高温下的聚集;CO 吸附原位 DRIFTS 表征结果显示,Gd_2O_3改性 Pt/CeO_2/Al_2O_3催化剂后,Pt-CeO_2间的强相互作用使 Pt 的缺电子性增强。在含硫300μg/g 的异辛烷蒸汽重整反应中,Pt/Gd_2O_3/CeO_2/Al_2O_3催化剂在250 h 的运行过程中,表现出优异的活性和抗硫中毒稳定性,异辛烷转化率保持在100%,产物中H_2的摩尔分数维持在73%左右,甲烷的摩尔分数维持在1%以下。