| AVS 63rd International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Applied Surface Science | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session AS-TuP |
| Session: | Applied Surface Science Division Poster Session |
| Presenter: | Samuel Gage, Colorado School of Mines |
| Authors: | S. Gage, Colorado School of Mines V. Molinari, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Germany D. Esposito, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Germany S. Pylypenko, Colorado School of Mines |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Titanium nitride-nickel (TiN-Ni) nanocomposites have been recently found to be an efficient catalyst for the hydrogenolysis of aryl ethers as models for lignin biomass refining. As compared to Ni catalysts supported on carbon, TiN-Ni nanocomposites showed superior catalytic activity. One possible explanation for the improved performance is a change in the electronic structure of nickel due to the TiN support. In order to test this hypothesis, a series of TiN-Ni nanocomposites with varying amounts of Ni loadings (1, 10, 20 and 50 wt.%) were synthesized and investigated using X-ray Photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and microscopy techniques. A series of TiO2-Ni reference materials with identical Ni loadings served as a reference.
The binding energy of Ni in the TiN-Ni samples is higher than those measured for Ni supported on TiO2, indicating that Ni in TiN-Ni nanocomposites is more electron poor. At Ni loadings greater than 1 wt.%, higher concentrations of Ni were measured on the surface of the TiN support as compared to the TiO2 support. The increase in the Ni loading appears to preferentially block TiN surface sites. In contrast at 1 wt.% loadings, the amount of Ni detected on the surface of TiN support is lower than that observed on the surface of TiO2 support, suggesting incorporation of Ni into the TiN structure.