Catalytic CO Oxidation and H2O2 Direct Synthesis over Pd and Pt-Impregnated Titania Nanotubes

Titania nanotubes (TNTs) impregnated with Pd and Pt nanoparticles are evaluated as heterogeneous catalysts in different conditions in two reactions: catalytic CO oxidation (gas phase, up to 500 °C) and H2O2 direct synthesis (liquid phase, 30 °C). The TNTs are obtained via oxidation of titanium metal and the intermediate layer-type sodium titanate Na2Ti3O7. Thereafter, the titanate layers are exfoliated and show self-rolling to TNTs, which, finally, are impregnated with Pd or Pt nanoparticles at room temperature by using Pd(ac)2 and Pt(ac)2. The resulting crystalline Pd/TNTs and Pt/TNTs are realized with different lengths (long TNTs: 2.0–2.5 µm, short TNTs: 0.23–0.27 µm) and a specific surface area up to 390 m2/g. The deposited Pd and Pt particles are 2–5 nm in diameter. The TNT-derived catalysts show good thermal (up to 500 °C) and chemical stability (in liquid-phase and gas-phase reactions). The catalytic evaluation results in a low CO oxidation light-out temperature of 150 °C for Pt/TNTs (1 wt-%) and promising H2O2 generation with a productivity of 3240 molH2O2 kgPd−1 h−1 (Pd/TNTs, 5 wt-%, 30 °C). Despite their smaller surface area, long TNTs outperform short TNTs with regard to both CO oxidation and H2O2 formation.

A Study of Palladium-Nickel Catalyst for Direct Synthesis of Hydrogen Peroxide: A DFT Approach

Hydrogen peroxide is an important material for bleaching agent in paper production related to the low price and environmentally friendly chemical. The current production of H2O2 is well-known as indirect synthesis, which uses danger anthraquinone. The synthesis was improved by using the direct reaction of H2 and O2 on Pd or PdAu alloy's catalyst surface and has been known as direct synthesis. The current catalyst used is Pd-Au, but it has limited availability in nature. Therefore we need the alternative of Pd-Au. We investigated Ni alloyed with Pd for the new H2O2 direct synthesis catalyst using a density functional theory approach. We selected the O adsorption to screen the catalysts and compared the species adsorption trend on the surfaces of PdNi and the proven catalysts such as Pd, PdAu, and PdHg. Since the trend of O adsorption on the PdAu and PdNi is similar, it can be concluded that the catalytic selectivity of PdNi equal with PdAu. Further, the stability of PdNi alloy was explored by calculating the binding and compared it with Pd, which leads to the conclusion that PdNi can be a good catalyst for H2O2 synthesis.

Boosting the Characterization of Heterogeneous Catalysts for H2O2 Direct Synthesis by Infrared Spectroscopy

Infrared (IR) spectroscopy is among the most powerful spectroscopic techniques available for the morphological and physico-chemical characterization of catalytic systems, since it provides information on (i) the surface sites at an atomic level, (ii) the nature and structure of the surface or adsorbed species, as well as (iii) the strength of the chemical bonds and (iv) the reaction mechanism. In this review, an overview of the main contributions that have been determined, starting from IR absorption spectroscopy studies of catalytic systems for H2O2 direct synthesis, is given. Which kind of information can be extracted from IR data? IR spectroscopy detects the vibrational transitions induced in a material by interaction with an electromagnetic field in the IR range. To be IR active, a change in the dipole moment of the species must occur, according to well-defined selection rules. The discussion will be focused on the advancing research in the use of probe molecules to identify (and possibly, quantify) specific catalytic sites. The experiments that will be presented and discussed have been carried out mainly in the mid-IR frequency range, between approximately 700 and 4000 cm−1, in which most of the molecular vibrations absorb light. Some challenging possibilities of utilizing IR spectroscopy for future characterization have also been envisaged.

Continuous H2O2 direct synthesis process: an analysis of the process conditions that make the difference

A trickle bed reactor (TBR) was used to study different process parameters upon hydrogen peroxide direct synthesis. The catalysts used were commercial palladium on active carbon. The influence of pressure (1.75–25 barg), temperature (5–60°C), liquid flow rate (2–13.8 ml·min