α-Fe2O3 Nanoparticles as Oxygen Carriers for Chemical Looping Combustion: An Integrated Materials Characterization Approach to Understanding Oxygen Carrier Performance, Reduction Mechanism, and Particle Size Effects

Abstract

Through continuous flow reactor experiments, materials characterization, and theoretical calculations, we provide new insights into the reduction of hematite (α-Fe2O3) nanoparticles by methane (CH4) during chemical looping combustion (CLC). Across CLC-relevant temperatures (500–800 °C) and gas flow rates (2.5–250 h–1), decreasing α-Fe2O3 particle size (from 350 to 3 nm) increased the duration over which CH4 was completely converted to CO2 (i.e., 100% yield). We attribute this size-dependent performance trend to the greater availability of lattice oxygen atoms in the near-surface region of smaller particles with higher surface area-to-volume ratios. All particle sizes then exhibited a relatively rapid rate of reactivity loss that was size- and temperature-independent, reflecting a greater role for magnetite (Fe3O4), the primary α-Fe2O3 reduction product, in CH4 oxidation. Bulk (X-ray diffraction, XRD) and surface (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, XPS) analysis revealed that oxygen carrier reduction procee...