The state of tungsten on the surface of dispersed silica during therma
l treatment is studied by X-ray diffraction analysis and TGA. It is sh
own that the supported tungsten-oxide phase structure can vary from a
structure close to WO3.2H(2)O or WO3.H2O to one characteristic of crys
talline WO3. A higher level of surface hydration for WO3/SiO2 samples
as compared with SiO2 is associated with the surface H2O molecules ent
ering the composition of the supported phase.