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Abstract: In situ FTIR spectroscopy coupled with downstream mass spectrometry has been used to clarify the pathways for room temperature (rt) CO oxidation over iron phosphate-supported Au catalyst. The charge state of Au on Au/FePO4 after calcination, reduction, or under reaction conditions was assessed by both FTIR spectroscopy (CO probing) and X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy (XANES). Results from both approaches show that cationic gold species dominate the surface after pretreatment in O2 at 200°C. A portion of the cationic gold on Au/FePO4 can be reduced by the initial CO adsorption at rt, and subsequently repeated CO exposures do not reduce the remaining cationic Au. FTIR and Raman results from cycled CO reduction and O2 reoxidation of Au/FePO4 indicate that there are active structural oxygen species on the surface of Au/FePO4that can be consumed by CO and then replenished by gaseous O2 at rt. Au activates both CO and O2 so that the FePO4 support can undergo reduction (by CO) and reoxidation (by O2) cycles. The results of CO oxidation with labeled 18O2 suggest the operation of two parallel reaction pathways at rt: (1) a redox pathway in which FePO4 supplies active oxygen and (2) a direct pathway on metallic Au, via either Langmuir–Hinshelwood or Eley–Rideal mechanism, in which gas phase O2 provides the active oxygen. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Iron phosphate supported on MCM-41 has been studied for partial oxidation of methane with both oxygen and nitrous oxide. Characterizations with XRD, Raman spectroscopy, XPS, and H2-TPR suggest that the supported iron phosphate species with loading amounts lower than 40 wt% are located and dispersed in the mesopores of MCM-41. Such iron phosphate species can be reduced more readily than the unsupported iron phosphate at lower temperatures. Methane is selectively converted to methanol, formaldehyde, and dimethyl ether over the supported and the unsupported iron phosphate with nitrous oxide at milder temperatures (300–500 °C), while formaldehyde is mainly produced along with carbon oxides with oxygen at relatively higher temperatures (400–600 °C). The supporting of iron phosphate onto MCM-41 with loading amounts of ca. 20–40 wt% increases both methane conversion and overall selectivity to useful oxygenates with either oxygen or nitrous oxide. Kinetic studies indicate that the activation of oxygen occurs rapidly, while the activation of nitrous oxide proceeds at a comparable rate with the conversion of methane by the active oxygen species over both the supported and the unsupported catalysts. The supported catalyst, however, enhances the activation of nitrous oxide and thus remarkably inhibits the carbon deposition occurring over the unsupported iron phosphate. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]