Structural, morphological and catalytic characterization of neutral Ag salt of 12-tungstophosphoric acid: Influence of preparation conditions

The objective of this study is the structural and morphological characterization of the Ag3PW12O40 salts (AgWPA) of 12-tungstophosphoric acid (WPA) obtained under different preparation conditions and testing of their acid catalytic activity in dehydration of ethanol. The structure, morphology and physicochemical characteristics were determined by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen physisorption at +/- 196 degrees C, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and differential thermal (DTA) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). It is shown that the preparation process has a significant influence on the morphological properties of the obtained materials which may be explained by the supposed mechanism of the formation of nanocrystallite's aggregates with more or less epitaxial connection. Neutral AgWPA obtained by filtration from supernatant forms porous aggregates of a symmetric dodecahedral shape, having average sizes about 2 mu m. This sample shows higher specific area in comparison with the salt obtained by evaporation due to the higher micropore volume, while mesopore volumes are the same for both salts. Thus conversion of ethanol and selectivities of the main products, ethylene and diethyl ether, are almost the same and constant for both prepared salts, while their values are changed over the reaction time for the parent WPA acid.