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In Situ X‑ray Diffraction Study of Co–Al Nanocomposites as Catalysts for Ammonia Decomposition
journal contribution
posted on 2015-07-30, 00:00 authored by Ying-Qiu Gu, Xin-Pu Fu, Pei-Pei Du, Dong Gu, Zhao Jin, Yu-Ying Huang, Rui Si, Li-Qiang Zheng, Qi-Sheng Song, Chun-Jiang Jia, Claudia WeidenthalerCo–Al nanocomposite materials
as active and stable catalysts
for ammonia decomposition have been synthesized by a one-pot evaporation-induced
self-assembly method. The catalysts were characterized by various
techniques including powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray absorption
fine structure (XAFS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), N2 adsorption/desorption, and transmission/scanning electron
microscopy (TEM/SEM). Especially, in situ XRD under
catalytic reaction conditions was performed, and metallic Co with
a cubic structure was identified to be most probably the active crystalline
phase for the decomposition of ammonia; also, contribution of CoO
to the catalytic activity cannot be excluded. Most importantly, the
introduction of alumina can significantly suppress the agglomeration
of the active metallic Co phase and thus maintain the high activity
of the cobalt catalyst.