Synthesis and Characterization of Iron Oxide Nanoparticles Supported on Ziconia and Its Application in the Gas-Phase Oxidation of Cyclohexanol to Cyclohexanone

Abstract

Iron oxide nanoparticles supported on zirconia were prepared by precipitation-deposition method and characterized by XRD, SEM, FT-IR, TGA/DTA, surface area and particle size analysis. Catalytic activities of the catalysts were tested in the gas-phase conversion of cyclohexanol in a fixed-bed flow type, Pyrex glass reactor, at 433 -463 K. Major detected products were cyclohexanone, cyclohexene and benzene, depending on the used catalyst. The rate of reaction was significantly raised by the introduction of molecular oxygen in the feed gas, thereby suggesting the oxidation of cyclohexanol to cyclohexanone. Furthermore, the catalytic activity of iron oxide nanoparticles supported on zirconia treated with hydrogen at 553 K for 2 hours, was more selective and better than the unreduced iron oxide nanoparticles supported on zirconia, in the gas-phase oxidation of cyclohexanol to cyclohexanone. Experimental results showed that there was no leaching of metal, and that the catalyst was thus truly heterogeneous.

Synthesis of iron oxide nanoparticles in a continuous flow spiral microreactor and Corning® advanced flow™ reactor

“…The colloidal NPs have applications in a variety of fields including biosensors, catalysis, targeted drug delivery system, detection of genes, conducting inks, magnetic resonance imaging, energy storage devices such as fuel cells, batteries etc., medical diagnostics, and antimicrobial agents [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. In recent years, interest in the efficient synthesis of magnetic iron oxide NPs has increased significantly due to the wide range of applications in the field of magnetic storage devices, chemical processing industries, biotechnology, water purification, and biomedical applications like thermal therapy, chemotherapy, diagnostic magnetic resonance imaging, magnetofection, and drug delivery [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21].…”