Nature of acid-base sites on molybdenum nitride catalysts: Effect of nitrogen and oxygen content

Abstract The presence of nitrogen and oxygen sites was shown to have a direct impact on the acid-base properties of Mo2N. The gas phase reaction of 2-methyl-3-butyn-2-ol (MBOH), temperature programmed desorption (TPD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to characterize the Mo2N catalyst. The acid-base character of Mo2N was impacted by synthesis and surface pretreatment methods prior to analysis. The basic character of passivated Mo2N increased after the following pretreatment: degassing in helium