Effects of coexisting oxoanions on SO<sub>3</sub> decomposition activity of molten-phase potassium metavanadate catalysts

Molten-state potassium metavanadate (KVO3) supported on mesoporous SiO2 materials have emerged as active catalysts for SO3 decomposition over a moderate temperature range (≤650 °C), which is a potential O2 evolution reaction useful for solar thermochemical water splitting. The molten phase formed at ≥520 °C contained tetrahedral VO42−, which plays a vital role in accelerating the SO3 uptake and conversion to SO2/O2. The present study aimed to reveal how the SO3 decomposition activity is affected by adding other oxoanions such as borate (BO33−), carbonate (CO32−), and phosphate (PO43−) into the melt. Although borate showed a deteriorating effect, phosphate tended to improve the catalytic activity when the P/V molar ratio was equal to or less than 0.5. The addition of phosphate produced a mixed phosphate vanadate with a composition of KV2PO8, which consists of infinite tetrahedral PO4 and pyramidal VO5 linked by vertex sharing. Because of the congruent melting at temperature as low as ∼530 °C, KV2PO8 may be expected as another candidate of active molten phase catalyst for SO3 decomposition.