Volume 243, 2023

Switching on/off molybdenum nitride catalytic activity in ammonia synthesis through modulating metal–support interaction

Abstract

Modulating the interaction between Mo nanoparticles and their support is an elegant approach to finely tune the structural, physico-chemical, redox and electronic properties of the active site. In this work, a series of molybdenum nitride catalysts supported on TiO2, and SBA-15 has been prepared and fully characterized. The results of characterization confirmed the high dispersion of Mo and the formation of small molybdenum nanoparticles in both the 10-Mo-N/SBA-15 and 10-Mo-N/TiO2 catalysts. In this context, we have shown that the catalytic activity of Mo species was strongly impacted by the nature of the catalytic support. Amongst the studied supports, SBA-15 was found to be the most appropriate for Mo dispersion. In comparison, when supported on a reducible oxide (TiO2), Mo species showed poor catalytic activity in both ammonia synthesis and decomposition and were prone to quick deactivation in the ammonia synthesis reaction. Evidence of charge transfer from the reducible support to the active phase, indicative of possible SMSI behaviour, has been observed by XPS and EPR. Differences in the oxidation states, redox behaviours, and electronic properties have been further studied by means of EPR, H2-TPR and H2-TPD.

Graphical abstract: Switching on/off molybdenum nitride catalytic activity in ammonia synthesis through modulating metal–support interaction

Associated articles

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
15 nov 2022
Accepted
06 dec 2022
First published
16 jan 2023
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Faraday Discuss., 2023,243, 126-147

Switching on/off molybdenum nitride catalytic activity in ammonia synthesis through modulating metal–support interaction

A. Sfeir, C. A. Teles, M. Marinova, H. Vezin, J. Dacquin, A. Löfberg, S. Laassiri and S. Royer, Faraday Discuss., 2023, 243, 126 DOI: 10.1039/D2FD00154C

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