Supported molybdena catalysts: Characterization of oxidized,reduced, and sulfided MoO3 prepared by an adsorption method

Highly dispersed molybdena-titania catalyst can be prepared by an equilibrium adsorption method. In this method, molybdate anions adsorb onto the positively charged titania surfaces via electrostatic attraction by controlling the pH of the impregnating solution and they increase as an inverse function of the pH. ⁹⁵Mo-NMR and UV spectroscopic studies of impregnating solution show that the polymeric species like Mo₇O₂₄ ⁶-ions are adsorbed on titania in the acidic impregnating solution. XRD, Raman, and XPS data of the calcined samples show that mono-layer coverage of molybdenum oxide over-layer possesses a highly distorted MoO₆ group with a molecular geometry resembling the distorted square pyramid. The catalytic oxidation of methanol over the surface molybdate species on titania possesses higher turnover numbers and higher selectivities of partial oxidation products than the catalysts supported on alumina, silica, zirconia, or magnesia. Changes of the surface properties either after reduction and sulfiding treatment over monolayer catalyst on titania have also been investigated. The NO chemisorption and XPS studies show that two types of active sites appeared after reduction treatment: one site is active for hydrogenation of 1,3-butadiene and the other site is active for metathesis of propene. A higher degree coordinative unsaturations of MO is required for hydrogenation than metathesis. After sulfiding treatments of the catalyst, hydrogenation of 1,3-butadiene also requires triply coordinative unsaturation, and hydrogenolysis of thiophene requires the ensemble of doubly or triply coordinative unsaturations.