Production of molybdenum oxide particles with high yield by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis and their catalytic activity toward partial oxidation of n-dodecane

Molybdenum oxides (MoO_x) have shown interesting catalytic and electronic properties for various applications in recent years. However, they are typically synthesized via hydrothermal and solvothermal methods that have a low production yield of less than 1 g per batch. In this study, we developed a large-scale production and continuous process of MoO₃ particles by utilizing an ultrasonic spray pyrolysis technology that allows the production rate of MoO₃ particles at 4.5 g/h. The size and phase structure of the MoO₃ particles were significantly affected by the pyrolysis temperature and concentration of precursor solution used. The as-synthesized MoO₃ particles were reduced to MoO₂ particles by H₂ treatment at 700 °C for 3 h. Partial oxidation reaction was studied to test the catalytic performance of both the MoO₃ and MoO₂ particles using n-dodecane as a fuel. The MoO₃ particles showed 45.3% of H₂ yield and 74.1% of carbon conversion. After reduction, however, the MoO₂ particles showed 60.8% of H₂ yield and 87.4% of carbon conversion, which shows higher performance than that of commercial MoO₂.