STUDY OF TUNGSTEN-OXIDE AND SULFATE INTERACTIONS ON DOUBLY-DOPED ZIRCONIA AEROGELS

A zirconia aerogel, prepared by a sol-gel route followed by supercriti cal drying, was doped with both tungstate and sulfate by sequential in cipient wetness impregnations. The role of the dopants and activation temperature on the physical and chemical properties was studied. The m aterials were characterized by nitrogen adsorption, X-ray diffraction, n-butane isomerization, Raman and infrared spectroscopy. Tungstate an d sulfate were catalytically active over non-overlapping ranges of act ivation temperature and thus offered no synergistic catalytic effects. The effects of the two dopants on each other appeared to be primarily physical.