Emerging catalytic applications of transition metal oxide nanomaterials under microwave and conventional heating

Abstract

Heterogeneous transition metal oxide catalysts have advantages over homogeneous catalysts, such as easy separations and efficient recycling and minimization of metal traces in the products. Transition metal oxide nanomaterials with different properties such as shapes and particle size were synthesized by hydrothermal, solvothermal, solvent-free and by energy efficient microwave heating methods and characterized using X-Ray and microscopic techniques. The synthesized catalysts were tested for tandem reactions to form quinoxalines, oxidations of hydrocarbons to form alcohols, aldehydes and ketones, epoxidation, epoxide ring opening, and N-aryl coupling reactions. The kinetics and energy consumption associated with these reactions were compared for both microwave and conventionally heated reactions. Further, Synchrotron radiation-based time-resolved XRD experiments under a wide variety of temperature and pressure conditions were conducted to study the reactions under working conditions. EXAFS and XANES data collections were performed to determine inter-atomic distances and oxidation states of the catalysts.