POTENTIAL OF THERMAL-ANALYSIS IN PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF SOLID CATALYSTS

Supported catalysts contain often only small amounts of active compone nt(s) which renders their characterization difficult, particularly bec ause they usually contain a substantial amount of water. Thermal analy sis (TA) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS) offers an interesting pot ential for characterizing such material, various steps of catalyst pre paration as well as crucial properties of fresh and used catalysts can be investigated. Some examples illustrating the versatility of TA-MS in catalysis research, such as solid-state reactions occurring upon ex posure of the precursors or catalysts to reducing, oxidizing or inert atmosphere, are presented in this study. The combined use of TA and MS allows in many cases a much more detailed interpretation of the obser ved phenomena than could be achieved by one of these methods alone.