Synthesis and Surface Characterization of Supported Copper Oxide Catalysts

Abstract

Mitta Harisekhar, Komandur VR Chary and Venkataraman Vishwanathan

A study was carried out to understand the structural and textural properties of SBA-15 supported copper catalysts. The Cu/SBA-15 catalysts were prepared by the incipient wetness method using Cu (NO3)2.3H2O as precursor and the copper content was varied between 5 and 20 wt%. The catalysts were characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Temperature programmed Reduction (TPR), Temperature programmed desorption (TPD) and N2 adsorption and desorption measurements. XRD profile revealed that at a lower copper loading (<5 wt%), smaller crystallites of CuO were highly dispersed. TPD of NH3 and CO2 results showed a reverse trend in acidity and basicity of the catalysts with increasing copper content on the surface of SBA-15, respectively. The influence of catalyst functionalities such as metal dispersion, metal area and surface acidity and basicity were attempted to correlate against the catalytic activity in terms of conversion, selectivity, and stability through a test reaction viz., gas phase hydrogenolysis of glycerol under atmospheric pressure.

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