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

Abstract

Abstract 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.