New type of vanadia catalyst prepared by atomic layer deposition
Catalyst–support interactions are known to be of great importance for the performance of supported oxide catalysts such as supported vanadia. In our recent publication in ACS Catalysis we have proposed a strategy to enhance the oxide–support interactions, based on the controlled synthesis of embedded oxide catalysts using atomic layer deposition (ALD). As demonstrated for vanadia, we employ graphene oxide as a sacrificial carrier matrix to facilitate the embedding of vanadia into alumina, silica, and titania.
The activity of the embedded vanadia catalysts is verified in the oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) of ethanol and compares favorably with reported data on conventional supported catalysts. Compared to the literature, vanadia/alumina catalysts, in which the template was removed by ozone treatment, show a significantly improved performance, whereas the vanadia/silica catalysts define a benchmark. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of rational catalyst engineering of supported oxide catalysts.
