Support effect of Ag/ZnO catalysts for partial oxidation of methanol

Abstract

Three ZnO supports with different morphologies (fusiform, nanoparticle and rod-shaped sphere) were synthesized successfully by facile hydrothermal method, over which Ag were loaded to evaluate for the hydrogen production in partial oxidation of methanol in the temperature range of 150–400°C. The activity data showed that the catalytic activities of Ag/ZnO catalysts were markedly affected by the morphologies of the supporting materials, among which their activities ranked as fusiform>nanoparticle>rod-shaped sphere. The best performing AgZn-F catalyst shows the highly efficient catalytic performance, achieving almost 100% conversion and very low CO selectivity at 360°C. These results illustrate that the morphology of support plays a crucial role on the Ag dispersion and the interaction of Ag and ZnO support, and thus determines the catalytic activity in partial oxidation of methanol.