Principal Investigator: John A. Vohs
Institution: University of Pennsylvania
Analysis (rationale for decision):
This research program will develop a novel application of a Coulomb titration technique to directly measure the heats of oxidation and reduction of supported monolayer, metal oxide, and selective oxidation catalysts. This analysis technique will then initially be used to characterize supported molybdena catalysts, and potentially also supported vanadia and chromia catalysts.
This program will directly measure, for the first time, the enthalpies and entropies of oxidation of supported oxide catalysts using Coulomb titration measurements. The measurements will be performed on well-characterized, supported metal oxide catalysts as a function of catalyst loading and support composition in order to develop a fundamental understanding of how these parameters affect catalyst performance. The data will be correlated with results from the literature in order to understand how the thermodynamic properties relate to catalytic performance. These correlations will significantly improve the understanding of what makes these commercially important catalysts active and selective. One important outcome of this work will be the development of a new, generally applicable technique for measuring critical, but difficult to obtain, properties of oxidation catalysts. A second important outcome will be the generation of new insights into how the structure and composition of supported oxide catalysts affect the enthalpies and free energies of oxidation for these commercially important materials. Finally, important insights into the factors that make supported oxides active and selective catalysts will be obtained.
The educational impact of this work will also be significant. In addition to training of the PhD students that will carry out the majority of the research, education of both undergraduates and high school students will be included in the project. A portion of the research program will be performed by both undergraduate engineering students and by high-school students, during the school year and over the summers.
