Isabel Vázquez

Oxidative dehydrogenation of propane and n-butane on V-Mg based catalysts

Abstract The catalytic properties of vanadium supported catalysts for the oxidative dehydrogenation of propane and n-butane has been studied. Natural Sepiolite and magnesium oxalate were used as starting support materials. Large differences in the type of crystalline phases were detected on the calcined catalysts depending on the vanadium content and nature of the support. The active and selective sites for the oxidative dehydrogenation of propane and n-butane, are related with isolated V 5+ with atetrahedral coordination. The presence of vanadium species with coordination higher than 4 negatively influence the selectivity to dehydrogenation products.

Total oxidation of naphthalene with high selectivity using a ceria catalyst prepared by a combustion method employing ethylene glycol.

During the catalytic combustion of naphthalene, compounds other than CO(2) are often obtained. These products, as polymerized polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, oxygenated aromatic compounds and benzene derivate compounds, are usually more toxic than naphthalene. At the present work it is shown a nanocrystalline cerium oxide prepared by a combustion method employing a proper ethylene glycol concentration that exhibits very high activity in the decomposition of naphthalene in the presence of air and, most importantly, a selectivity value towards CO(2) of 100% for any range of conversions and/or temperatures used. In addition, it has been demonstrated that the amount of ethylene glycol employed in the synthesis of the catalyst is determinant to achieve the optimal catalytic performance. The catalytic results have been explained in terms of the amount of cerium oxide defects.

Stable anchoring of dispersed gold nanoparticles on hierarchic porous silica-based materials

The nanometric organization of MOx (M = Co, Zn, Ni) domains partially embedded inside the mesoporous silica walls but accessible to the pore voids, which is achieved through a simple one-pot surfactant-assisted procedure, define optimal anchors for the nucleation and growth of gold nanoparticles, which in turn favours an exceptional thermal stability for the final Au-supported materials. As silica support we have selected a UVM-7 silica having a highly accessible architecture defined by two hierarchic pore systems. The combination of nanometric pore length, tortuous mesopores and MOx inorganic anchors favours the stability of the final Au/CoOx-UVM-7 nanocomposites.