The nature of the molybdenum surface in iron molybdate. The active phase in selective methanol oxidation

Brookes, Catherine, Wells, Peter P., Dimitratos, Nikolaos ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6620-4335, Jones, Wilm, Gibson, Emma K., Morgan, David J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6571-5731, Cibin, Giannantonio, Nicklin, Chris, Mora-Fonz, David, Scanlon, David O., Catlow, C. R. A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1341-1541 and Bowker, Mike ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5075-1089 2014. The nature of the molybdenum surface in iron molybdate. The active phase in selective methanol oxidation. Journal of Physical Chemistry C 118 (45) , pp. 26155-26161. 10.1021/jp5081753

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Abstract

The surface structure of iron molybdate is of great significance since this is the industrial catalyst for the direct selective oxidation of methanol to formaldehyde. There is a debate concerning whether Fe2(MoO4)3 acts as a benign support for segregated MoO3 or if there is an intrinsic property of the surface structure which facilitates its high catalytic efficacy. This study provides new insights into the structure of this catalyst, identifying a bound terminating layer of octahedral Mo units as the active and selective phase. Here we examine whether only 1 monolayer of Mo on iron oxide alone is efficacious for this reaction. For a 1 ML MoOx shell–Fe2O3 core catalyst the Mo remains at the surface under all calcination procedures while exhibiting high selectivity and activity. The work highlights how catalyst surfaces are significantly different from bulk structures and this difference is crucial for catalyst performance.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Chemistry
Subjects:	Q Science > QD Chemistry
Publisher:	American Chemical Society
ISSN:	1932-7447
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	15 April 2016
Last Modified:	19 May 2023 20:43
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/67319

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