Effect of Ti3+ on TiO2-supported Cu catalysts used for CO oxidation.

In this paper, we have shown that Cu/TiO(2) catalysts are highly active in CO oxidation. For instance, a 3.4% Cu/TiO(2) catalyst exhibits a higher turnover rate for the effective removal of CO in air than 3-5% Pt/TiO(2) and 20% Cu/ZnO/Al(2)O(3) catalysts. A small amount of Cu(+) species is formed during the calcination treatment at 225 °C, which is the main active phase for the CO oxidation. However, it is proposed that some highly dispersed CuO can also form in the TiO(2) lattice during the calcination treatment. Furthermore, a strong electron interaction between Cu(2+) in highly dispersed CuO and Ti(3+) on rutile TiO(2) (Cu(2+)+Ti(3+)→Cu(+)+Ti(4+)) has been shown to occur. Overall, the reduction of Cu(+) is a major factor that contributes to the reaction rate of the CO oxidation.

Effects of potassium on Ni-K/Al2O3 catalysts in the synthesis of carbon nanofibers by catalytic hydrogenation of CO2.

Commercially available Ni/Al(2)O(3) samples containing various concentrations of potassium were used to achieve carbon deposition from CO(2) via catalytic hydrogenation. Experimental results show that K additives can induce the formation of carbon nanofibers or carbon deposition on Ni/Al(2)O(3) during the reverse water-gas shift reaction. This work proposes that the formation rate of carbon deposition depends closely on ensemble control, suggesting that the ensemble size necessary to form carbon may be approximately 0.5 potassium atoms. The results of CO(2) temperature-programmed desorption provide strong evidence that the new adsorption sites for CO(2) created on Ni-K/Al(2)O(3) closely depend upon the synthesis of carbon nanofibers. It is found that some potassium-related active phases obtained by calcination and reduction pretreatments can participate in the carbon deposition reaction. The formation pathway for carbon deposition suggests that the main source of carbon deposition is CO(2) and that the pathway is independent of the reaction products CO and CH(4) in the reverse water-gas shift reaction.