Methanol oxidation over vanadium-containing model oxide catalysts. Influence of charge-transfer effects on selectivity

Abstract

Model vanadium-containing catalysts [α-Al_2–xV_xO₃(x= 0–0.2), Ti_xV₁O_2–x(x= 0–0.2) and Sn_xV_1–xO₂(x= 0–0.2)] have been studied to discover the extent to which conductivity or electron-exchange effects are important in determining catalyst selectivity in the oxidation of methanol. By cross-comparison of the catalytic behaviour and solid-state data for the three catalyst systems it is concluded that the high selectivity to partial oxidation products is correlated with relatively facile electron exchange between active-site cations. The host lattice is shown to have an important role in that the “electronic isolation” of the active sub-lattice seems to be important.