1. Uncovering selective and active Ga surface sites in gallia–alumina mixed-oxide propane dehydrogenation catalysts by dynamic nuclear polarization surface enhanced NMR spectroscopy†
- Author
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Elena Willinger, Evgenia Kountoupi, Christophe Copéret, Anne Lesage, Paula M. Abdala, Zhuoran Wang, Pedro Castro-Fernández, Monu Kaushik, Deni Mance, Alexey Fedorov, and Christoph R. Müller
- Subjects
Materials science ,Absorption spectroscopy ,010405 organic chemistry ,Infrared spectroscopy ,General Chemistry ,Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy ,010402 general chemistry ,01 natural sciences ,3. Good health ,0104 chemical sciences ,Propene ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Chemistry ,chemistry ,Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance ,Magic angle spinning ,Physical chemistry ,Dehydrogenation ,Lewis acids and bases - Abstract
Gallia–alumina (Ga,Al)2O3(x : y) spinel-type solid solution nanoparticle catalysts for propane dehydrogenation (PDH) were prepared with four nominal Ga : Al atomic ratios (1 : 6, 1 : 3, 3 : 1, 1 : 0) using a colloidal synthesis approach. The structure, coordination environment and distribution of Ga and Al sites in these materials were investigated by X-ray diffraction, X-ray absorption spectroscopy (Ga K-edge) as well as 27Al and 71Ga solid state nuclear magnetic resonance. The surface acidity (Lewis or Brønsted) was probed using infrared spectroscopy with pyridine and 2,6-dimethylpyridine probe molecules, complemented by element-specific insights (Ga or Al) from dynamic nuclear polarization surface enhanced cross-polarization magic angle spinning 15N{27Al} and 15N{71Ga} J coupling mediated heteronuclear multiple quantum correlation NMR experiments using 15N-labelled pyridine as a probe molecule. The latter approach provides unique insights into the nature and relative strength of the surface acid sites as it allows to distinguish contributions from Al and Ga sites to the overall surface acidity of mixed (Ga,Al)2O3 oxides. Notably, we demonstrate that (Ga,Al)2O3 catalysts with a high Al content show a greater relative abundance of four-coordinated Ga sites and a greater relative fraction of weak/medium Ga-based surface Lewis acid sites, which correlates with superior propene selectivity, Ga-based activity, and stability in PDH (due to lower coking). In contrast, (Ga,Al)2O3 catalysts with a lower Al content feature a higher fraction of six-coordinated Ga sites, as well as more abundant Ga-based strong surface Lewis acid sites, which deactivate through coking. Overall, the results show that the relative abundance and strength of Ga-based surface Lewis acid sites can be tuned by optimizing the bulk Ga : Al atomic ratio, thus providing an effective measure for a rational control of the catalyst performance., Coordination geometry and Lewis acidity of Ga and Al (bulk and surface) sites in mixed oxide gallia–alumina nanoparticles is correlated with the performance in propane dehydrogenation.
- Published
- 2021