The effect of acid treatment in mixed MnO x −CeO 2 samples has been investigated in the catalytic total oxidation of formaldehyde. The acid treatment has no effect on the textural and redox properties of the materials when Mn is stabilized in a MnO x −CeO 2 solid solution (Mn content below 50%). However, these properties were found to be highly altered by acid treatment when the solubility limit of Mn in the ceria was exceeded (Mn content above 50%). This enabled access to the primary porosity and oxidized the manganese species to a higher oxidation state via a Mn dismutation reaction. As a result, the catalytic activity of pure manganese oxide, after chemical activation, in the oxidation of formaldehyde is greatly improvedat 100°C, the conversion of formaldehyde is increased by a factor of 5 and the corresponding intrinsic reaction rate by 1.4. Combined in situ surface analysis unambiguously identified formate species as a result of formaldehyde oxidation at room temperature on the chemically activated pure MnO x . The evolution of various surface species was monitored by increasing the temperature and in situ FTIR, and XPS results provided direct evidence of the desorption of monodentate formate species into formaldehyde and the oxidation of bidentate-bridging formate species. Changes in the average oxidation state of surface manganese confirmed the participation of oxygen from MnO x in the formation of formate species at room temperature and their transformation into CO 2 and H 2 O when increasing the temperature.

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Experimental IR spectra of carbon monoxide adsorbed on a series of Mo/Al2O3, CoMo/Al2O3, and NiMo/Al2O3 sulfided catalysts have been compared to ab initio DFT calculations of CO adsorption on CoMo and NiMo model surfaces. This approach allows the main IR features of CO adsorbed on the sulfide phase to be assigned with an uncertainty of 15 cm(-1). On the CoMo system, the band at 2070 cm(-1) is specific of the promotion by Co and is assigned to CO interacting either with a Co atom or with a Mo atom adjacent to a Co atom. On the NiMo system, CO adsorption on Ni centers of the promoted phase leads to a high-wavenumber band at approximately 2120 cm(-1) that strongly overlaps the band at 2110 cm(-1) characteristic of nonpromoted Mo sites. For NiMo and CoMo catalysts, broad shoulders at low wave numbers (below 2060 cm(-1)) are characteristic of Mo centers adjacent to promoter atoms, indicating a partial decoration of the MoS2 edges by the promoter.