Causes of Activation and Deactivation of Modified Nanogold Catalysts during Prolonged Storage and Redox Treatments

The catalytic properties of modified Au/TiO₂ catalysts for low-temperature CO oxidation are affected by deactivation and reactivation after long-term storage and by redox treatments. The effect of these phenomena on the catalysts was studied by HRTEM, BET, SEM, FTIR CO, XPS and H₂ TPR methods. The main cause for the deactivation and reactivation of catalytic properties is the variation in the electronic state of the supported gold, mainly, the proportion of singly charged ions Au⁺. The most active samples are those with the highest proportion of singly charged gold ions, while catalysts with a high content of trivalent gold ions are inactive at low-temperatures. Active states of gold, resistant to changes caused by the reaction process and storage conditions, can be stabilized by modification of the titanium oxide support with transition metals oxides. The catalyst modified with lanthanum oxide shows the highest stability and activity.

Use of natural mordenite to remove chromium (III) and to neutralize pH of alkaline waste waters

The natural mordenite from Palmarito de Cauto deposit (PZ), Cuba, was studied in this work as an ion exchanger to remove Cr(3+) cations from alkaline aqueous solutions at different pH and chromium concentrations. The mordenite stability under cyclic treatment processes with alkaline solutions and its capacity to decrease the pH of the solutions was also analyzed. It was shown that PZ removes Cr(3+) ions from alkaline solutions, and it happens independently of the starting chromium concentration and the pH of the exchange solution used. This material has an important neutralizing effect on alkaline solutions, expressed in a significant pH decrease from the early stages of the treatments. For solutions with initial pH equal to 11, it decreases to a value of around seven. The stability of this material is not affected significantly after continuous cyclic treatment with NaOH solution, which shows that mordenite, in particular from Palmarito de Cauto deposit, has high stability in alkaline solutions. The results are important as they suggest that natural zeolites may be of interest in treatments of alkaline industrial waste effluents.

Elimination of sulfates from wastewaters by natural aluminosilicate modified with uric acid

Natural aluminosilicate activated by a heat/acid treatment, followed by modification with uric acid was used to remove sulfates for treatment of wastewater effluent. Natural aluminosilicates were studied in every stage of the modification (namely activation, modification with uric acid, and after sulfates absorption) by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), spectroscopy X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS),surface area (BET), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and Z potential. More than 60% of the initial concentration of sulfates (500 mg/l) was removed with the natural aluminosilicate modified with uric acid. Absorption isotherms rendered a mechanism with contributions from both Langmuir and Freundlich mechanisms. This study opens the path for the use of natural and abundant local material to remove sulfates using a modifier already present in wastewater effluents as contaminant.

Gold nanoparticles supported on magnesium oxide for CO oxidation

Au was loaded (1 wt%) on a commercial MgO support by three different methods: double impregnation, liquid-phase reductive deposition and ultrasonication. Samples were characterised by adsorption of N2 at -96°C, temperature-programmed reduction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. Upon loading with Au, MgO changed into Mg(OH)2 (the hydroxide was most likely formed by reaction with water, in which the gold precursor was dissolved). The size range for gold nanoparticles was 2-12 nm for the DIM method and 3-15 nm for LPRD and US. The average size of gold particles was 5.4 nm for DIM and larger than 6.5 for the other methods. CO oxidation was used as a test reaction to compare the catalytic activity. The best results were obtained with the DIM method, followed by LPRD and US. This can be explained in terms of the nanoparticle size, well known to determine the catalytic activity of gold catalysts.

Comparative study of formation and stabilization of gold and silver clusters and nanoparticles in mordenites

Supporting silver and gold on mordenites by ion-exchange method with further reduction with H2 leads to formation of neutral and charged metal clusters inside zeolite channels as well as metal nanoparticles on external surface of mordenite. A portion of the cluster states of the metals and stability of the clusters depend strongly on acidity of zeolite (determined by SiO2/Al2O3 molar ratio) and nature of zeolite cation (H+, Na+, NH4+). The investigations of silver and gold samples after prolonged storage for 6 and 12 months revealed that silver clusters are comparatively stable while oxidation of gold clusters and nanoparticles by air is the probable cause of deactivation of gold catalysts. The comparison of the results for Au and Ag samples allow suggesting NaM15 and NaM24 mordenites for effective synthesis of complex Au-Ag clusters as active and stable species of catalytic reactions occurring at room temperature.

Influence of cation nature on stabilization of gold nanospecies in mordenites

Gold species deposited on NH4(+)- and H(+)-mordenites were studied by X-ray diffraction, xenon adsorption, NMR of 27Al and 129Xe, UV-Visible spectroscopy and TPR. Mordenite ion-exchange cations exert a significant effect on size distribution and electronic state of gold species supported on the zeolites. AuNH4M contains larger nanoparticles of gold on its external surface than AuHM because protonic form of zeolite has stronger sites for stabilization of gold nanospecies. In the case of NH4(+)-mordenite, Au clusters inside zeolite channels have bigger size and fill the side-pockets completely after gold deposition due to more complete reduction of gold entities, while in H(+)-mordenite only half the side-pockets are filled by gold species. H(+)-mordenite favors the stabilization of both small gold clusters and cations. Even after the reduction of gold by hydrogen flow at 100 degrees C, some gold species are not completely reduced and have certain effective charge (Au(n)delta+ clusters).

Catalytic activity of gold nanoparticles incorporated into modified zeolites

Gold catalysts modified by Fe and Ni and supported on different zeolite matrixes have been studied by TEM, TPR, and catalytic testing. The presence of a metal oxide additive allows stabilizing small gold particles, particularly in the case of Fe. The shape of light-off curves shows two temperature regions of the catalyst activity, a low-temperature range below 250 degrees C and a high-temperature range above 300 degrees C. This situation is explained considering the existence of at least two types of catalytically active sites of gold assigned to gold clusters and gold nanoparticles, respectively, while the ionic state of gold (Au3+) remains inactive. It is shown that interaction of gold with Fe promoter leads to activation of catalysts at low temperature due to a change of electronic state and redox properties of gold. NiO additive cause a similar, but less pronounced effect.