Dispersion behaviors of molybdena on titania (rutile and/or anatase)

Raman and FT-IR spectra were employed to investigate the dispersion of molybdena on mixed TiO2 (rutile and anatase, signed as R and A) with different BET surface ratios of rutile/TiO2(R + A). The results showed that (1) molybdena would preferentially disperse on the rutile surface in mixed TiO2; (2) for MoO3/rutile with low molybdena loading (e.g., 0.20 mmol/100 m2 rutile), a dispersed molybdena species existed on the rutile surface in an isolated tetrahedral coordination environment, while for MoO3/rutile with high molybdena loading (e.g. 0.82 mmol/100 m2 rutile), a polymeric molybdena species could be detected on the rutile surface; (3) for the MoO3/anatase sample, a dispersed molybdena species existed on the anatase surface in a polymeric coordination environment; and (4) the formation of the Bronsted acid site on the surface of rutile and anatase should be related to the polymeric molybdena species. All these results have been discussed via the interaction between OH groups of molybdena and OH groups of rutile and anatase, and it seems reasonable to suggest that, for the lower molybdena loading, the different states of the dispersed molybdena species should result from the different dehydration orders of OH groups of the molybdena and surface OH groups of rutile and anatase.