Physical mixing of metal acetates: optimisation of catalyst parameters to produce highly active bimetallic catalysts

Abstract

We have investigated the optimisation of the catalytic parameters for the preparation of catalysts by the simple mixing and thermal treatment of a support and metal acetate precursors. We have studied the effect of metal ratio and metal loading to produce a catalyst which has the optimum activity for a variety of reactions including benzyl alcohol oxidation, glycerol oxidation and the direct synthesis of hydrogen peroxide. We have demonstrated the high activity of these catalyst's for a variety of substrates and performed XPS and XRD studies on the catalysts to help elucidate the origin of the catalysts improved activity.