Three-dimensional model phases molecular properties

The catalysis science of supported metal oxide catalysts, especially supported vanadia catalysts, has lagged behind their industrial development. In the 1970s, two models were proposed for the active metal oxide component a three-dimensional microcrystalline phase (e.g., small metal oxide crystallites) or a two-dimensional surface metal oxide overlayer (e.g., surface metal oxide monolayer). In the 1980s, many studies demonstrated that the active metal oxide components were primarily present as two-dimensional surface metal oxide overlayers, below monolayer coverage, and that the surface metal oxide overlayers control the catalytic properties of supported metal oxide catalysts. The synergistic interaction between the surface vanadia overlayer and the underlying oxide support prompted Ceilings to state. . that neither the problem of the structure of suppored vanadium oxide nor that of the special role of TiOa as a support have definitely been solved. Further work on these and related topics is certainly necessary. In more recent years, many fundamental studies have focused on the molecular structural determination of the surface vanadia phase and to a lesser extent the molecular structure-reactivity relationships of supported vanadia catalysts. " ... 

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