Dispersion state and catalytic properties of vanadia species on the surface of V2O5/TiO2 catalysts

The dispersion state and catalytic properties of anatase-supported vanadia species are studied by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), laser Raman spectroscopy (LRS), H-2 temperature-programmed reduction (TPR) and the selective oxidation of o-xylene to phthalic anhydride. The almost identical values of the experimental dispersion capacity Of V2O5 on anatase and the surface vacant sites available on the preferentially exposed (001) plane of anatase suggest that the highly dispersed vanadium cations are bonded to the vacant sites on the surface of anatase as derived by the incorporation model. When the loading amount Of V2O5 is far below its dispersion capacity, the dispersed vanadia species might mainly consist of isolated VOx species bridging to the surface through V-O-Ti bonds. With the increase Of V2O5 loading the isolated vanadia species interact with their nearest neighbors (either isolated or polymerized vanadia) through bridging V-O-V at the expenses of V-O-Ti bonds, resulting in the increase of the ratio of polymerized to isolated vanadia species and the decrease of the reactivity of the associated surface oxygen anions and, consequently, although the activity increases with loading to reach a maximum value, the turn over number (TON) of the V2O5/TiO2 catalyst decreases linearly. When the loading amount Of V2O5 is higher than its dispersion capacity, the turn over number decreases more rapidly with the increase Of V2O5 loading due to the formation Of V2O5 crystallites in which the oxygen anions associated with V-O-V bonds are less reactive and only partially exposed on the surface.