Synthesis and reactivity over molybdenum carbide crystallites

The synthesis and reactivities of molybdenum carbide crystallites were examined in this study. Especially, the effect of synthesis conditions were scrutinized on the preparation of molybdenum carbide crystallites. In order to perform this purpose, various characterization techniques such as BET surface area and oxygen uptake measurements were employed for the synthesized molybdenum carbide crystallites. First of all, the molybdenum carbide crystallites were synthesized using molybdenum oxide crystallites and methane gas or methane-hydrogen mixture. The experimental results showed that BET surface areas ranged from $7.4m^2/g$ to $31m^2/g$ and oxygen uptake values varied from $8.1{\mu}mol/g$ to $24.3{\mu}mol/g$. The Mo compounds were found to be active for ammonia decomposition reaction. Even though there are some molybdenum carbide crystallites that were exceeded by Pt/$Al_2O_3$ crystallite, the steady state reactivities for other molybdenum carbide crystallites were comparable to or even higher than that determined for the Pt/$Al_2O_3$ crystallite. These results implied that molybdenum carbide crystallites could be one of the promising crystallites that might be substitutes for Pt-like noble metal crystallites in the petroleum processes.