MICROPOROUS AND MESOPOROUS MATERIALS 163

22 23 Abstract 24 The activity and selectivity of bi-functional carbon-supported platinum catalysts for the 25 hydroisomerization of n-alkanes have been studied. The influence of the properties of 26 the carbon support on the performance of the catalysts were investigated by 27 incorporating the metallic function on a series of carbons with varied porosity 28 (microporous: GL-50 from Norit, and mesoporous: CMK-3) and surface chemistry 29 (modified by wet oxidation). The characterization results achieved with H2 30 chemisorption and TEM showed differences in surface metal concentrations and metal- 31 support interactions depending on the support composition. The highest metal 32 dispersion was achieved after oxidation of the carbon matrix in concentrated nitric acid, 33 suggesting that the presence of surface functional sites distributed in inner and outer 34