Thermal stability of nano-KH particles and their chemical reactivities

The variation of specific surface area and chemical reactivity of nano-KH particles treated at different temperatures has been studied, The BET surface area of nano-KH decreases with the increase of heat treatment temperature, while the chemical reactivity per unit surface increases steadily. These results indicate that the state of KH surface is changed after heat treatment. Large specific surface area of nano-KH is a major factor for its high chemical reactivity, nevertheless, the surface in an activated state with high surface energy is also an important factor for its high chemical reactivity. Nano-KH alone can polymerize styrene rapidly with the formation of polystyrene.

An in-situ modified sol-gel process for monolith catalyst preparation used in the partial oxidation of methane

An in-situ modified sol-gel method for the preparation of a Ni-based monolith-supported catalyst is reported. With the presence of a proper amount of plasticizer and binder, and at an optimized pH value, the stable boehmite sol was modified with metal ions (Ni, Li, La) successfully without distinct growth of the particle size. Monolith-supported Ni-based/gamma-Al2O3 catalysts were obtained using the modified sol as the coating medium with several cycles of dip-coating and calcination. Combined BET, SEM-EDS, XRD and H-2-TPR investigations demonstrated that the derived monolith catalysts had a high specific surface area, a relatively homogeneous surface composition, and a high extent of interaction between the active component and the support. These catalysts showed relatively stable catalytic activities for partial oxidation of methane (POM) to syngas under atmospheric pressure. The monolith catalysts prepared by this sol-gel method also demonstrated an improved resistance to sintering and loss of the active component during the reaction process.

Templateless synthesis of catalysts with narrow mesoporous distribution

In this study, amorphous silica-alumina nanomaterials with narrow mesoporous distribution can be obtained by two novel sol-gel processes, without the use of any templates. The results of our experiments show that the preparation method has a great influence on the precursor sol structure as well as the specific surface area and mesopore volume of the final product, but has no effect on the pore size distribution.

Ultrasonic synthesis of silica-alumina nanomaterials with controlled mesopore distribution without using surfactants

A novel sol-gel process has been developed for the synthesis of amorphous silica-aluminas with controlled mesopore distribution without the use of organic templating agents, e.g., surfactant molecules. Ultrasonic treatment during the synthesis enables production of precursor sols with narrow particle size distribution. Atomic force microscopy analysis shows that these sol particles are spherical in shape with a narrow size distribution (i.e., 13-25 nm) and their aggregation during the gelation creates clusters containing similar sized interparticle mesopores. A nitrogen physiadsorption study indicates that the mesoporous materials containing different Si/Al ratios prepared by the new synthesis method has a large specific surface area (i.e., 587-692 m(2)/g) and similar pore sizes of 2-11 nm. Solid-state Al-27 magic angle spinning (MAS) NMR shows that most of the aluminum is located in the tetrahedral position. A transmission electron microscopy (TEM) image shows that the mesoporous silica-alumina consists of 12-25 nm spheres. Additionally, high-resolution TEM and electron diffraction indicate that some nanoparticles are characteristic of a crystal, although X-ray diffraction and Si-29 MAS NMR analysis show an amorphous material.

Preparation of titania-based catalysts for formaldehyde photocatalytic oxidation from TiCl4 by the sol-gel method

Titania sols were prepared by acid hydrolysis of a TiCl4 precursor instead of titanium alkoxides. The effect of acid concentration on the particle size and stability of sol was investigated. Stable titania sols with mean particle size of 14 nm could be obtained when the H+/Ti molar ratio was 0.5. The titania sols were modified with Pt, SiO2, ZrO2, WO3 and MoO3 to prepare a series of modified catalysts, which were used for the photocatalytic oxidation of formaldehyde at 37 degreesC. They showed different photocatalytic activities due to the influence of the additives. Comparing with pure TiO2, the addition of silica or zirconia increased the photocatalytic activity, while the addition of Pt and MoO3 decreased the activity, and the addition Of WO3 had little effect on the activity. It is of great significance that the conversion of formaldehyde was increased up to 94% over the SiO2-TiO2 catalyst. The increased activity was partly due to higher surface area and porosity or smaller crystallite size. A comparison of our catalyst compositions with the literature in this field suggested that the difference in activity due to the addition of a second metal oxide maybe caused by the surface chemistry of the catalysts, particularly the acidity. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Simultaneous hydrodesulfurization of thiophene and hydrogenation of cyclohexene over dimolybdenum nitride catalysts

A series of unsupported dimolybdenum nitride (gamma-Mo(2)N) catalysts differing in surface area were prepared by temperature programmed reduction of MoO(3) with a mixture of NH(3):N(2) (90:10). Characterization of catalysts by BET, XRD, TPR and XPS techniques was carried out. The samples were used as catalysts in hydrotreating reactions (simultaneous hydrodesulfurization of thiophene and hydrogenation of cyclohexene). Low surface area gamma-Mo(2)N materials show much higher specific conversions than those with higher surface area. These results indicate that HDS and HYD reactions over gamma-Mo(2)N seem to be structure-sensitive. The relative exposure extent of crystalline planes (111) and (200) over the different catalysts can be associated with their hydrogen adsorption capacities and with their catalytic performances. The catalytic activities are significantly affected by the catalyst pretreatment conditions. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Characterizations and activities of the nano-sized Ni/Al2O3 and Ni/La-Al2O3 catalysts for NH3 decomposition

A series of nano-sized Ni/Al2O3 and Ni/La-Al2O3 catalysts that possess high activities for NH3 decomposition have been successfully synthesized by a coprecipitation method. The catalytic performance was investigated under the atmospheric conditions and a significant enhancement in the activity after the introduction of La was observed. Aiming to study the influence of La promoter on the physicochemical properties, we characterized the catalysts by N-2 adsorption/desorption, XRD, H-2-TPR, chemisorption and TEM techniques. Physisorption results suggested a high specific surface area and XRD spectra showed that nickel particles are in a highly dispersed state. A combination of XRD, TEM and chemisorption showed that Ni-0 particles with the average size lower, than 5.0 nm are always obtained even though the Ni loading ranged widely from 4 to 63 %. Compared with the Ni/Al2O3 catalysts, the Ni/La-Al2O3 ones with an appropriate amount of promoter enjoy a more open mesoporous structure and higher dispersion of Ni. Reduction kinetic studies of prepared catalysts were investigated by temperature-programmed reduction (TPR) method and the fact that La additive partially destroyed the metastable Ni-Al mixed oxide phase was detailed. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Hydroisomerization of long-chain alkane over Pt/SAPO-11 catalysts synthesized from nonaqueous media

SAPO-11 molecular sieves were synthesized from nonaqueous media. The effects of Si and Al sources as well as solvents on the catalytic performance of SAPO-11 were investigated by the hydroisomerization reaction of n-dodecane. The samples were characterized by XRD, XRF, N-2-adsorption, SEM, NH3-TPD, IR-NH3 and Si-29 CP MAS NMR. The SAPO-11 samples synthesized with tetraethoxysilane as the Si source showed higher Si incorporation contents than the SAPO molecular sieves prepared with polymeric Si sources (fumed silica and Si colloidal gel). The reaction results showed that Pt/SAPO-11 catalysts synthesized from ethylene glycol and glycerol media with the monomeric Si and Al sources (tetraethoxysilane, aluminum isopropoxide) exhibited higher catalytic activities than those catalysts with the polymeric Si or Al (pseudo-boehmite) sources, due to the larger external surface area and higher acidity of the former ones. Especially, the catalyst synthesized in an ethylene glycol medium possessed the highest catalytic activity. Over this catalyst, 88% conversion of n-dodecane was achieved at a low temperature of 250 degrees C.