Effect of copper (II) towards the physical and chemical properties of vanadium phosphorus oxide catalyst

Three VPO catalysts doped with various copper concentrations and bulk VPO catalyst were prepared via sesquihydrate method. The catalysts were characterised by XRD, BET, ICP-OES, Redox titration, SEM and EDX. It was found that the addition of trace amount of copper increases the surface area of the catalyst except 0.5 mol % copper doped catalyst. XRD, redox titration and ICP-OES analysis proved that the copper doped catalyst has higher V compared to undoped catalyst. 0.3 mol % copper doped catalyst seems to be the best VPO catalyst in this study as further copper addition reduces the physical and chemical properties of VPO catalyst.