We demonstrate for the first time that a short time of microwave irradiation on the oxide precursor of a Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst can provide unique opportunity for tailoring the microstructure and activity of the catalyst for methanol steam reforming. It is shown by in situ XRD that a considerable increase in the microstrain of Cu nanocrystals could be achieved in the catalysts processed by microwave irradiation for 310 min, which correlates well with the enhanced CH3OH conversion as observed on the corresponding samples. The present work also confirms that although the high specific surface area of Cu is a prerequisite for catalytic activity, it does not account for the observed changes in activity and selectivity alone without taking bulk microstructural changes into account.
A natural mineral, lindgrenite Cu3（MoO4）2（OH） 2 , was synthesized from a mixture of sodium molybdate, copper sulfate, and morpholine in water under autogenous pressure at 170 ℃. The crystal structure of the mineral was determined and the final refinement for 791 observed reflections with I>2σ（I） gave R1=0.0205 and wR 2 =0.0496. The thermal stability of the mineral was investigated by using TG-DTA and variable-temperature in situ X-ray diffraction（XRD） techniques. The crystalline Cu3Mo2O9 was obtained when the mineral underwent thermal dehydration at a temperature ranging from 300 to 400 ℃, and the mixture of MoO3 and CuO was formed through decomposition of Cu3Mo2O9 at a temperature ranging from 650 to 700 ℃. Therefore, the structure of the mineral was thermally unstable at above 300 ℃, suggesting that Lindgrenite was likely formed via the hydrothermal route occurring in the nature.
BAO Ren-lieKONG Zu-pingGU MinYUE BinWENG Lin-hongHE He-yong
