Characterization of Carbon-Supported Iron Catalysts Prepared from Fe(CO) 5

Abstract

Iron catalysts have been prepared by adsorption of iron pentacarbonyl on activated carbon. After reduction in H₂ flow at different temperatures, metal dispersions and average crystallite sizes have been studied. The catalysts have been characterized by H₂ and CO chemisorption at 373 K, X-ray diffraction line broadening and transmission electron microscopy. The results obtained show that the iron crystallites prepared by this method present a narrow particle size distribution and that the iron catalysts have high metal dispersions. It may be concluded that CO chemisorption at 373 K can be a good technique to study iron supported catalysts.