Crystal Imperfections of Industrial Vanadium Phosphorous Oxide Catalysts

This study presents information about crystal imperfections in the main phase of industrial vanadium phosphorous oxide catalysts that are used to catalyze the oxidation of n-butane to maleic anhydride, being an important intermediate in the chemical industry. The mechanism of this reaction is still debated, and the catalytically active and selective surface centers have not yet been identified. The results presented are based on X-ray diffraction data obtained by both laboratory-scale and synchrotron powder diffraction experiments, as well as laboratory-scale single-crystal diffraction experiments. It has been proven that pronounced Bragg reflection broadening effects found in laboratory-scale powder diffraction patterns of industrial VPO catalysts are real and not due to an insufficient 2-θ resolution of the apparatus. In the framework of this work, a powder diffraction full profile fitting strategy was developed using the TOPAS software, which was applied to analyze the X-ray diffraction data of four differently activated industrial catalyst samples, originating from one batch after they had been catalytically tested. It was found that the reflection broadening is mainly caused by an anisotropic crystal size, which results in platelet-shaped crystallites of vanadyl pyrophosphate. A further contribution to the reflex broadening, especially for (111), was found to be a result of stacking faults perpendicular to the a direction in the crystal structure of vanadyl pyrophosphate. These results were used to elaborate on possible correlations between structural proxies and catalytic performance. A direct correlation between the extension of coherently scattering domains in the z direction and the catalyst’s selectivity could be proven, whereas the activity turned out to be dependent on the crystallite shape. Regarding the phase contents, it could be shown that sample catalysts containing a higher amount of β-VO(PO3)2 showed increased catalytic activity.