Supported oxides: Preparation, characterization and catalytic activity of CrOx/ZrO2, MoOx/ZrO2 and VOx/ZrO2

Impedance spectroscopy of reduced monoclinic zirconia

Zirconia doped with low-valent cations (e.g. Y3+ or Ca2+) exhibits an exceptionally high ionic conductivity, making them ideal candidates for various electrochemical applications including solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) and oxygen sensors. It is nevertheless important to study the undoped, monoclinic ZrO2 as a model system to construct a comprehensive picture of the electrical behaviour. In pure zirconia a residual number of anion vacancies remains because of contaminants in the material as well as the thermodynamic disorder equilibrium, but electronic conduction may also contribute to the observed conductivity. Reduction of zirconia in hydrogen leads to the adsorption of hydrogen and to the formation of oxygen vacancies, with their concentration affected by various parameters (e.g. reduction temperature and time, surface area, and water vapour pressure). However, there is still little known about the reactivities of defect species and their effect on the ionic and electronic conduction. Thus, we applied electrochemical impedance spectroscopy to investigate the electric performance of pure monoclinic zirconia with different surface areas in both oxidizing and reducing atmospheres. A novel equivalent circuit model including parallel ionic and electronic conduction has previously been developed for titania and is used herein to decouple the conduction processes. The concentration of defects and their formation energies were measured using volumetric oxygen titration and temperature programmed oxidation/desorption.

In situ UV-vis-NIR diffuse reflectance and Raman spectroscopy and catalytic activity studies of propane oxidative dehydrogenation over supported CrO3/ZrO2 catalysts

The molecular structures, oxidation states, and reactivity of 3 and 6% CrO3/ZrO2 catalysts prepared by incipient wetness impregnation were examined under different conditions. The in situ Raman spectroscopic studies under dehydrated conditions reveal that the 3 and 6% CrO3/ZrO2 catalysts possess equal amounts of monochromate and polychromate species. Consequently, monolayer coverage on this ZrO2 support is about 3% CrO3. The 6% CrO3/ZrO2 possesses an additional Raman band due to Cr2O3 crystals corresponding to the remaining 3% CrO3. Furthermore, during reaction conditions the polychromate species is preferentially reduced, the monochromate species are slightly affected, and the Cr2O3 crystals are not affected. The in situ UV-vis-NIR diffuse reflectance spectroscopy results reveal that under steady-state reaction conditions the extent of reduction and edge energy position of surface Cr6+ cations increase with an increase in reduction environment for the 3 and 6% CrO3/ZrO2 samples. Propane oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) studies reveal that the catalytic activity expressed in moles of propane converted per gram catalyst per second is similar for the two catalysts, which is consistent with equal amounts of molecularly dispersed chromia present. The turnover frequency for the 6% CrO3/ZrO2 catalyst is, however, smaller than that for the 3% CrO3/ZrO2 sample due to the presence of Cr2O3 crystals, which are relatively inactive for propane ODH. For this catalytic system and for the experimental conditions used, propene, CO, and CO2 are primary products. Furthermore, the 33-39% propene selectivity is not affected by the C3H8/O2 ratio for both catalysts. Structure-reactivity studies suggest that the molecularly dispersed species are present in equal amounts in the 3 and 6% CrO3/ZrO2 samples as Cr6+ monochromate and polychromate species are the most effective catalytic active sites taking part in the propane ODH reaction.