Effect of Noble Metal Silver on the Reduction Behaviour of Molybdenum Oxide Using Carbon Monoxide

Abstract

The reduction behavior of silver doped molybdenum trioxide (Ag/MoO3) and undoped MoO3 by using carbon monoxide, CO were investigated by using temperature programmed reduction (TPR). The reduced phases were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). In the carbon monoxide atmosphere, the XRD results indicated that the reduction of Ag/MoO3 and undoped MoO3 to MoO2 phase proceed in two steps (MoO3 → Mo4O11 → MoO2) with Mo4O11 present as an intermediate state. A complete reduction to metallic molybdenum for both samples cannot occurred since in an excess CO atmosphere, MoO2 is promoted to form carbides rather than reduce to metallic molybdenum. Nevertheless, addition of silver to modified MoO3 shows the better reducibility compared to MoO3 alone by lower the reducing temperature of MoO3. TPR results show that the reduction peak of Ag/MoO3 is slightly shifts to lower temperature as compared with the undoped MoO3. The interaction between silver and molybdenum ions leads to this slightly decrease of the reduction temperature of silver doped MoO3. It can be seen that doping with silver has a remarkable influence in the reduction process of the MoO3 catalyst.