FT-IR Study of Carbon Nanotube Supported Co-Mo Catalysts

In this paper, adsorption properties of dibenzothiophene (DBT) on carbon nanotube, carbon nanotube supported oxide state and sulfide state CoMo catalysts are studied by using thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) technique and FT-IR spectroscopy. Activated carbon support, γ-AlgO3 support and supported CoMo catalysts are also subjected to studies for comparison. It was found that sulfide state CoMoS/MWCNT, CoMoS/AC and CoMoS/γ-Al2O3 catalysts adsorbed much more DBT molecules than their corresponding oxide state catalysts, as well as their corresponding supports. The chemically adsorbed DBT aromatic molecules did not undergo decomposition on the surface of supports, supported oxide state CoMo catalysts and sulfide state CoMo catalysts when out-gassing at 373 K. FT-IR results indicated that DBT molecules mainly stand upright on the active sites (acid sites and/or transition active phases) of CoMoS/MWCNT catalyst. However, DBT aromatic molecules mainly lie flat on MWCNT and CoMoO/MWCNT.