Abstract

VAN HEERDEN, T.; HILL, M.; CASE, J.  and  VAN STEEN, E.. Characterization of Au catalysts. J. S. Afr. Inst. Min. Metall. [online]. 2012, vol.112, n.spe, pp.527-534. ISSN 2411-9717.

A range of supported gold catalysts was prepared by ion exchange, varying many of the preparation variables, including concentration in the precursor solution, washing procedure, as well as drying and calcination procedures. These catalysts have been characterized extensively. TEM images show essentially the same crystallite size distributions, between 2-5 nm, for almost all catalysts, the only exception being catalysts not washed in ammonia, which did not show any small crystallites. Additional characterization with SEM yielded an interesting discovery. Catalysts that appear identical on the TEM also contain some large crystallites in the range of 50-500 nm. Differences in dispersion due to the drying procedure not seen on the TEM can now be observed. Oxygen chemisorption is being investigated as an additional method to characterize gold based catalysts to complement the typically used electron microscope techniques.

Keywords : Gold catalyst; TEM; SEM; characterization; ion exchange; particle size.

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