Extent of Reduction of Vanadium Oxides during Catalytic Oxidation of Alkanes Measured by in-Situ UV−Visible Spectroscopy

In Situ UV-Vis-NIR Absorption Spectroscopy and Catalysis

This review highlights in situ UV-vis-NIR range absorption spectroscopy in catalysis. A variety of experimental techniques identifying reaction mechanisms, kinetics, and structural properties are discussed. Stopped flow techniques, use of laser pulses, and use of experimental perturbations are demonstrated for in situ studies of enzymatic, homogeneous, heterogeneous, and photocatalysis. They access different time scales and are applicable to different reaction systems and catalyst types. In photocatalysis, femto- and nanosecond resolved measurements through transient absorption are discussed for tracking excited states. UV-vis-NIR absorption spectroscopies for structural characterization are demonstrated especially for Cu and Fe exchanged zeolites and metalloenzymes. This requires combining different spectroscopies. Combining magnetic circular dichroism and resonance Raman spectroscopy is especially powerful. A multitude of phenomena can be tracked on transition metal catalysts on various supports, including changes in oxidation state, adsorptions, reactions, support interactions, surface plasmon resonances, and band gaps. Measurements of oxidation states, oxygen vacancies, and band gaps are shown on heterogeneous catalysts, especially for electrocatalysis. UV-vis-NIR absorption is burdened by broad absorption bands. Advanced analysis techniques enable the tracking of coking reactions on acid zeolites despite convoluted spectra. The value of UV-vis-NIR absorption spectroscopy to catalyst characterization and mechanistic investigation is clear but could be expanded.

Gas-Phase Selective Oxidation of Methane into Methane Oxygenates

Methane is an abundant resource and its direct conversion into value-added chemicals has been an attractive subject for its efficient utilization. This method can be more efficient than the present energy-intensive indirect conversion of methane via syngas, a mixture of CO and H2. Among the various approaches for direct methane conversion, the selective oxidation of methane into methane oxygenates (e.g., methanol and formaldehyde) is particularly promising because it can proceed at low temperatures. Nevertheless, due to low product yields this method is challenging. Compared with the liquid-phase partial oxidation of methane, which frequently demands for strong oxidizing agents in protic solvents, gas-phase selective methane oxidation has some merits, such as the possibility of using oxygen as an oxidant and the ease of scale-up owing to the use of heterogeneous catalysts. Herein, we summarize recent advances in the gas-phase partial oxidation of methane into methane oxygenates, focusing mainly on its conversion into formaldehyde and methanol.

Activation and catalytic transformation of methane under mild conditions

In the last few decades, worldwide scientists have been motivated by the promising production of chemicals from the widely existing methane (CH₄) under mild conditions for both chemical synthesis with low energy consumption and climate remediation. To achieve this goal, a whole library of catalytic chemistries of transforming CH₄ to various products under mild conditions is required to be developed. Worldwide scientists have made significant efforts to reach this goal. These significant efforts have demonstrated the feasibility of oxidation of CH₄ to value-added intermediate compounds including but not limited to CH₃OH, HCHO, HCOOH, and CH₃COOH under mild conditions. The fundamental understanding of these chemical and catalytic transformations of CH₄ under mild conditions have been achieved to some extent, although currently neither a catalyst nor a catalytic process can be used for chemical production under mild conditions at a large scale. In the academic community, over ten different reactions have been developed for converting CH₄ to different types of oxygenates under mild conditions in terms of a relatively low activation or catalysis temperature. However, there is still a lack of a molecular-level understanding of the activation and catalysis processes performed in extremely complex reaction environments under mild conditions. This article reviewed the fundamental understanding of these activation and catalysis achieved so far. Different oxidative activations of CH₄ or catalytic transformations toward chemical production under mild conditions were reviewed in parallel, by which the trend of developing catalysts for a specific reaction was identified and insights into the design of these catalysts were gained. As a whole, this review focused on discussing profound insights gained through endeavors of scientists in this field. It aimed to present a relatively complete picture for the activation and catalytic transformations of CH₄ to chemicals under mild conditions. Finally, suggestions of potential explorations for the production of chemicals from CH₄ under mild conditions were made. The facing challenges to achieve high yield of ideal products were highlighted and possible solutions to tackle them were briefly proposed.

Pathways, mechanisms, and kinetics: a strategy to examine byproduct selectivity in partial oxidation catalytic transformations on reducible oxides

We review experimental practices, common reaction pathways, and kinetic modeling strategies effective in understanding partial oxidation catalysis over reducible oxides.

The Reducibility and Cluster Size of Vanadium Oxide as Potential Descriptors of Its Catalytic Activity in the Partial Oxidation of Ethanol

A series of vanadium oxide (VOx) catalysts prepared using three different supports were tested for the partial oxidation of ethanol to acetaldehyde. Optical absorption spectroscopy and Temperature Programmed reductions experiments indicate that the reducibility and average domain size of the vanadia clusters anchored on the supports are very sensitive to vanadia loading. The catalytic activity results were modeled using a pseudo steady state approximation using the ethanol hydrogen abstraction step as rate limiting. The results obtained strongly suggest that catalytic activity can be correlated to both average vanadia cluster size and the ability of vanadia to uptake hydrogen during TPR experiments.

Size-dependent catalytic activity of supported vanadium oxide species: oxidative dehydrogenation of propane

Possible reaction pathways for the oxidative dehydrogenation of propane by vanadium oxide catalysts supported on silica are examined by density functional theory. Monomeric and dimeric vanadium oxide species are both considered and modeled by vanadyl-substituted silsesquioxanes. The reaction proceeds in two subsequent steps. In a first step, hydrogen abstraction from propane by a vanadyl (O═V) group yields a propyl radical bound to a HOV(IV) surface site. Propene is formed by a second hydrogen abstraction, either at the same vanadia site or at a different one. V(V)/V(IV) redox cycles are preferred over V(V)/V(III) cycles. Under the assumption of fast reoxidation, microkinetic simulations show that the first step is rate-determining and yields Arrhenius barriers that are lower for dimers (114 kJ/mol at 750 K) than for monomers (124 kJ/mol). The rate constants predicted for a mixture of monomers and dimers are 14% larger (750 K) than for monomers only, although the increase remains within experimental uncertainty limits. Direct calculations of energy barriers also yield lower values for dimeric species than for monomeric ones. Reactivity descriptors indicate that this trend will continue also for larger oligomers. The size distribution of oligomeric species is predicted to be rather statistical. This, together with the small increase in the rate constants, explains that turnover frequencies observed for submonolayer coverages of vanadia on silica do not vary with the loading within the experimental uncertainty limits.

Periodic Density Functional Theory Study of Propane Oxidative Dehydrogenation over V2O5(001) Surface

The oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) of propane on single-crystal V(2)O(5)(001) is studied by periodic density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The energetics and pathways for the propane to propene conversion are determined. We show that (i) the C-H bond of propane can be activated by both the terminal and the bridging lattice O atoms on the surface with similar activation energies. At the terminal O site both the radical and the oxo-insertion pathways are likely for the C-H bond activation, while only the oxo-insertion mechanism is feasible at the bridging O site. (ii) Compared to that at the terminal O site, the propene production from the propoxide at the bridging O site is much easier due to the weaker binding of propoxide at the bridging O. It is concluded that single-crystal V(2)O(5)(001) is not a good catalyst due to the terminal O being too active to release propene. It is expected that an efficient catalyst for the ODH reaction has to make a compromise between the ability to activate the C-H bond and the ability to release propene.

Quantitative Determination of the Speciation of Surface Vanadium Oxides and Their Catalytic Activity

A quantitative method based on UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) was developed that allows determination of the fraction of monomeric and polymeric VO(x) species that are present in vanadate materials. This new quantitative method allows determination of the distribution of monomeric and polymeric surface VO(x) species present in dehydrated supported V(2)O(5)/SiO(2), V(2)O(5)/Al(2)O(3), and V(2)O(5)/ZrO(2) catalysts below monolayer surface coverage when V(2)O(5) nanoparticles are not present. Isolated surface VO(x) species are exclusively present at low surface vanadia coverage on all the dehydrated oxide supports. However, polymeric surface VO(x) species are also present on the dehydrated Al(2)O(3) and ZrO(2) supports at intermediate surface coverage and the polymeric chains are the dominant surface vanadia species at monolayer surface coverage. The propane oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) turnover frequency (TOF) values are essentially indistinguishable for the isolated and polymeric surface VO(x) species on the same oxide support, and are also not affected by the Brønsted acidity or reducibility of the surface VO(x) species. The propane ODH TOF, however, varies by more than an order of magnitude with the specific oxide support (ZrO(2) > Al(2)O(3) >> SiO(2)) for both the isolated and polymeric surface VO(x) species. These new findings reveal that the support cation is a potent ligand that directly influences the reactivity of the bridging V-O-support bond, the catalytic active site, by controlling its basic character with the support electronegativity. These new fundamental insights about polymerization extent of surface vanadia species on SiO(2), Al(2)O(3), and ZrO(2) are also applicable to other supported vanadia catalysts (e.g., CeO(2), TiO(2), Nb(2)O(5)) as well as other supported metal oxide (e.g., CrO(3), MoO(3), WO(3)) catalyst systems.

Vanadium Oxides on Aluminum Oxide Supports. 1. Surface Termination and Reducibility of Vanadia Films on α-Al2O3(0001)

Using density functional theory and statistical thermodynamics, we obtained the phase diagram of thin VnOm films of varying thickness (approximately 2-6 A, 1-6 vanadium layers) supported on alpha-Al2O3(0001). Depending on the temperature, oxygen pressure, and vanadium concentration, films with different thickness and termination may form. In ultrahigh vacuum (UHV), at room temperature and for low vanadium concentrations, an ultrathin (1 x 1) O=V-terminated film is most stable. As more vanadium is supplied, the thickest possible films form. Their structures and terminations correspond to previous findings for the (0001) surface of bulk V2O3 [Kresse et al., Surf. Sci. 2004, 555, 118]. The presence of surface vanadyl (O=V) groups is a prevalent feature. They are stable up to at least 800 K in UHV. Vanadyl oxygen atoms induce a V(2p) core-level shift of about 2 eV on the surface V atoms. The reducibility of the supported films is characterized by the energy of oxygen defect formation. For the stable structures, the results vary between 4.11 and 3.59 eV per 1/2O2. In contrast, oxygen removal from the V2O5(001) surface is much easier (1.93 eV). This provides a possible explanation for the lower catalytic activity of vanadium oxides supported on alumina compared to that of crystalline vanadia particles.

Vanadium Oxides on Aluminum Oxide Supports. 2. Structure, Vibrational Properties, and Reducibility of V2O5 Clusters on α-Al2O3(0001)

The structure, stability, and vibrational properties of isolated V2O5 clusters on the Al2O3(0001) surface have been studied by density functional theory and statistical thermodynamics. The most stable structure does not possess vanadyl oxygen atoms. The positions of the oxygen atoms are in registry with those of the alumina support, and both vanadium atoms occupy octahedral sites. Another structure with one vanadyl oxygen atom is only 0.12 eV less stable. Infrared spectra are calculated for the two structures. The highest frequency at 922 cm(-1) belongs to a V-O stretch in the V-O-Al interface bonds, which supports the assignment of such a mode to the band observed around 941 cm(-1) for vanadia particles on alumina. Removal of a bridging oxygen atom from the most stable cluster at the V-O-Al interface bond costs 2.79 eV. Removal of a (vanadyl) oxygen atom from a thin vanadia film on alpha-Al2O3 costs 1.3 eV more, but removal from a V2O5(001) single-crystal surface costs 0.9 eV less. Similar to the V2O5(001) surface, the facile reduction is due to substantial structure relaxations that involve formation of an additional V-O-V bond and yield a pair of V(IV)(d1) sites instead of a V(III)(d2)/V(V)(d0) pair.

Photodecomposition of Organic Peroxides Containing Coumarin Chromophore: Spectroscopic Studies

The photodecomposition of coumarin-3-t-Bu peroxyester (1) and coumarin-3-carbonyl-m-chlorobenzoylperoxide (2) has been studied using nanosecond and femtosecond spectroscopy to elucidate the nature of transient species involved. Excitation of the coumarin chromophore leads to its singlet excited-state decaying with the rate 9 x 10(9) s(-1) that results from a composite of emission, intersystem crossing, thermal relaxation, and -O-O- bond homolysis. Dissociation of the weak oxygen-oxygen bond proceeds from both triplet and singlet excited states. The nature of this combination of states is predissociative rather than dissociative as demonstrated by the relatively slow rates of oxygen-oxygen bond rupture. The decomposition of 1 and 2 leads to the formation of coumarin-3-carbonyloxyl radical (R1). The later was observed spectroscopically on the nanosecond time scale using both time-resolved FTIR and UV-vis transient techniques. R1 is consumed in two competitive processes: unimolecular decarboxylation and bi-molecular hydrogen atom transfer. The rates of these reactions are 4.3 x 10(5) s(-1) and 1 x 10(6) M(-1) s(-1) respectively. The transition state geometries and energies of decarboxylation of R1 have been determined using DFT calculations and are compared with values for the benzoyloxyl radical. The decarboxylation of R1 proceeds via a transition state in which the carboxyl group is almost perpendicular (dihedral angle 114 degrees) to the plane of the coumarin chromophore. The transition state of the benzoyloxyl radical, in contrast, is flat (0 degrees). The varied transition state energies of the radicals (13.6 kcal/mol for coumarin carboxyl radical vs 8 kcal/mol for benzoyloxyl radical) correlate with different decarboxylation rates of these two species.