Data-reduction techniques spectroscopy

Figure 9. Data reduction and data analysis in EXAFS spectroscopy. (A) EXAFS spectrum x(k) versus k after background removal. (B) The solid curve is the weighted EXAFS spectrum k3x(k) versus k (after multiplying (k) by k3). The dashed curve represents an attempt to fit the data with a two-distance model by the curve-fitting (CF) technique. (C) Fourier transformation (FT) of the weighted EXAFS spectrum in momentum (k) space into the radial distribution function p3(r ) versus r in distance space. The dashed curve is the window function used to filter the major peak in Fourier filtering (FF). (D) Fourier-filtered EXAFS spectrum k3x (k) versus k (solid curve) of the major peak in (C) after back-transforming into k space. The dashed curve attempts to fit the filtered data with a single-distance model. (From Ref. 25, with permission.)...

Application of Raman spectroscopy to a study of catalyst surfaces is increasing. Until recently, this technique had been limited to observing distortions in adsorbed organic molecules by the appearance of forbidden Raman bands and giant Raman effects of silver surfaces with chemisorbed species. However, the development of laser Raman instrumentation and modern computerization techniques for control and data reduction have expanded these applications to studies of acid sites and oxide structures. For example The oxidation-reduction cycle occurring in bismuth molybdate catalysts for oxidation of ammonia and propylene to acrylonitrile has been studied in situ by this technique. And new and valuable information on the interaction of oxides, such as tungsten oxide and cerium oxide, with the surface of an alumina support, has been obtained. 

Polycrystalline Ni-Sb alloys, unsupported Sb-loaded Ni powders, artificially contaminated as well as equilibrium FCC (from a heavy oil cracker) have been studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Auger spectroscopy and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) by workers at Phillips in what was one of the first examples of a multi-characterization technique approach to FCC study (39,40). XPS results have indicated that in an equilibrium FCC, 50 to 80% of the surface Sb and 30% to 50% of the surface Ni could be reduced to metal. This XPS data suggested that Ni and Sb were present on at least two different sites (that can be differentiated by their reducibility at 500°C/H2) and that reduction caused a twofold increase in the Ni/Sb ratio due to greater Ni dispersion. 

The state of tin in Pt/Sn/alumina catalysts was investigated bv Li and Shia (25) via Mossbauer spectroscopy (i/9Sn enriched isotopes) and XPS. The former technique indicated the presence of Sn+, Sn+2 and Sn, in proportions that depended on the method of preparation, but in all cases the Sn+4 component dominated. These conclusions were confirmed by the XPS experiments. Additional TPR tests on the reduced catalyst and on samples exposed to air showed that reoxidation of Pt/Sn/alumina reduced preparations was rather slow, confirming our EXAFS observations. The presence of zero valent tin in similar preparations, using the acetone complexation procedure, was recently confirmed by Li, Stencel and Davis (12) in an extended XPS investigation. For reduced samples, with a Pt Sn ratio 1 5, these authors estimated that approximately 68% of the tin was in the metallic state. However, they observed that exposure of the sample to air for 10 minutes entirely eliminated the XPS detectable Sn°. Their data also indicated that upon reduction, chlorine migrated from the surface to the alumina. Thus, XPS which measures surface composition indicates a higher sensitivity to oxidation than was demonstrated by our EXAFS experiments, which is a bulk diagnostic. 

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