In the attempt to reduce surface free energy of silica to improve interaction of silica with silver, silica was doped by different amounts of low surface energy lanthanum, La_2O_3, through impregnation. The doped and ...In the attempt to reduce surface free energy of silica to improve interaction of silica with silver, silica was doped by different amounts of low surface energy lanthanum, La_2O_3, through impregnation. The doped and undoped silica were used as supports for preparation of Na/Ag/Mo/La_2O_3-SiO_2 catalysts. Catalytic performances of the catalysts were evaluated in direct epoxidation of propylene(DPO) using molecular oxygen under atmospheric pressure and without adding hydrogen. Adding 5 wt%La to the Na/Ag/Mo/SiO_2 catalyst improves both the catalysts electivity in DPO and its stability over 20h of time-on-stream.The characterization results show that La_2O_3 species interact strongly with silver particles on the silica surface which result in significant improvement in the dispersion profile of silver and marked decrease in the size of silver nanoparticles(AgNPs). The estimated mean diameter of AgNPs is ca. 4.0 nm in Na/Ag/Mo/5 wt%La_2O_3-SiO_2, which is smaller than that(53.9 nm) found in Na/Ag/SiO_2. The presence of subnanometer AgNPs on Ag/La_2O_3-SiO_2 prior addition of MoO_3 and NaCl to the sample can enhance the mutual electronic synergism between Ag, MoO_3 and Na for selective production of propylene oxide.展开更多
基金Project supported by the KACST Strategic Technologies Research Grant(10-PET1103-06)
文摘In the attempt to reduce surface free energy of silica to improve interaction of silica with silver, silica was doped by different amounts of low surface energy lanthanum, La_2O_3, through impregnation. The doped and undoped silica were used as supports for preparation of Na/Ag/Mo/La_2O_3-SiO_2 catalysts. Catalytic performances of the catalysts were evaluated in direct epoxidation of propylene(DPO) using molecular oxygen under atmospheric pressure and without adding hydrogen. Adding 5 wt%La to the Na/Ag/Mo/SiO_2 catalyst improves both the catalysts electivity in DPO and its stability over 20h of time-on-stream.The characterization results show that La_2O_3 species interact strongly with silver particles on the silica surface which result in significant improvement in the dispersion profile of silver and marked decrease in the size of silver nanoparticles(AgNPs). The estimated mean diameter of AgNPs is ca. 4.0 nm in Na/Ag/Mo/5 wt%La_2O_3-SiO_2, which is smaller than that(53.9 nm) found in Na/Ag/SiO_2. The presence of subnanometer AgNPs on Ag/La_2O_3-SiO_2 prior addition of MoO_3 and NaCl to the sample can enhance the mutual electronic synergism between Ag, MoO_3 and Na for selective production of propylene oxide.