Plasma Assisted Synthesis of a Molybdenum Carbide Catalyst

Abstract

A novel method for the production of a nano-structured molybdenum carbide catalyst using non-thermal plasma is described. This synthesis involves the carburization of a molybdenum metal powder precursor using ethylene as the carbon source. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed the presence of a Mo 2 C-β crystal structure and a 9 � 2 nm layer of what was suspected to be Mo 2 C absent in the molybdenum precursor. Catalytic testing in the water gas shift reaction (WGS) showed no difference in activity between the unreduced synthesis product and the control run.