Effects of experimental conditions on synthesis of titanium carbide crystallites

The temperature-programmed reduction of titanium oxide ($TiO_2$) with pure $CH_4$ was used for the preparation of titanium carbide crystallites. The synthesized materials had the different surface areas, indicating that the structural properties of these materials were strong functions of two different heating rates and space velocity employed. The titanium carbide crystallites were active for $NH_3$ decomposition. Since the reactivity varied with changes in the particle size, ammonia decomposition reactivity over the titanium carbides crystallites appeared to be related to the different active species. The reactivities of titanium carbide crystallites were two and three times lower than those of the vanadium and molybdenum carbide crystallites, respectively. These results suggested that the difference in activities might be related to the degree of electron transfer between metals and carbon.