ABSTRACT
An essential property of combustion catalysts is long-term (>8000 h) stability at high temperatures in an environment (approximately 1 atm of both oxygen and water vapor) that aggressively promotes sintering of the supporting oxide and coarsening of the active component. Extrapolation of accelerated coarsening rate measurements, determined from shorter exposures at higher temperatures, can be made with more confidence if the physical processes of the coarsening and sintering processes were well understood. The current work examines in detail the coarsening of a high-weight-loaded palladium catalyst supported by silica-stabilized alumina at 900 degrees C in such an aggressive environment. The results of this investigation showed that the Pd particle size distribution was consistently log-normal for time periods from 100 to 4000 h, the mean particle growth rate was roughly inverse second-order in mean particle diameter, and the support not only sintered but also underwent phase transformation. The results implicate both coalescence and Ostwald ripening as important coarsening processes.
ABSTRACT
As part of an ongoing research program to synthesize novel pillared layered materials, nickel and cobalt hydroxyacetates were inserted between the layers of amine intercalates of alpha-zirconium phosphate. The structure of the resultant nickel composite, derived from x-ray powder data, was found to consist of a three-tiered layer of nickel atoms bridged by hydroxo and acetato groups. Heating to 420 degrees C converted the hydroxyacetate layers to oxide and imparted ordered magnetic domains to the composite. The phosphate layers appear to act as a template directing the growth of the inserted layers in this class of composite materials.
