Structure and reactivity of single site Ti catalysts for propylene epoxidation
Source
UAH PRC Research Database
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Journal of Catalysis
Abstract
Propylene epoxidation using molecular oxygen and hydrogen mixture on Au-based catalysts has attracted attention because of high propylene oxide selectivity and the use of an inexpensive and environmental friendly oxidant. Single-site titanium on metal oxide supports plays an important role in achieving high reactivity and selectivity in propylene epoxidation. Here we used TiO2 atomic layer deposition (ALD) to synthesize single-site titanium imbedded in the SiO2 framework for propylene epoxidation. High temperature calcination was used as post-treatment to control the titania structure and Tisingle bondO coordination number. Using UV–vis spectroscopy and X-ray absorption spectroscopy, we successfully established that under similar propylene conversion the selectivity to propylene oxide (PO) is strongly correlated to the Tisingle bondO coordination number and bond length. Using a cluster model, density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that the partial charges of single Tisingle bondSiO2 sites scale linearly as a function of the coordination number. Also, the predicted Tisingle bondO bond lengths follow the same trend as found in the experiments, providing additional support for the observed experimental activity relationships.
First Page
419
Last Page
428
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcat.2019.07.051
Publication Date
9-1-2019
Recommended Citation
Lu, Zheng; Liu, Xiaoyang; Zhang, Bin; Gan, Zhuoran; Tang, Siwen; Ma, Lu; Wu, Tianpin; Nelson, George J.; Qin, Yong; Turner, Heath C.; and Lei, Yu, "Structure and reactivity of single site Ti catalysts for propylene epoxidation" (2019). PRC-Affiliated Research. 80.
https://louis.uah.edu/prc-research/80