Positron annihilation study of Mo dispersion in MoO3/Al2O3 catalysts

A series Of MoO3/Al2O3 catalysts was prepared by the impregnation method. The positron annihilation lifetime spectra (PALS) and coincidence Doppler broadening (CDB) spectra of the samples were measured to study the pore structure and dispersion of MoO3. The PALS result shows that there are two types of pores with different size in the Al2O3 support. After MoO3 was loaded in the support, Mo species are mainly dispersed inside the large pores of the support, and thus decrease the volume of the large pores. The CDB spectrum shows significant change while MoO3 loading is just 3%. This indicates that the Mo species are dispersed into the pores, and cause the change of the electron momentum distribution seen by positrons. As the MoO3 loading exceeds 18%, the size of the large pores is decreased to the similar size of the small pores, and the positron annihilation parameters show nearly no change with further Mo loading, which indicates saturation of the dispersion of Mo species.