Nano-scale materials

This is the final report of a three-year, Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Highly selective, alumina-supported molybdenum carbonitrides were prepared by solution impregnation using the metal amide Mo{sub 2}(N(CH{sub 3}){sub 2}){sub 6} as a molecular precursor. On the basis of relative weight percents, these materials demonstrate a 5- to 8-fold increase in catalytic activity over similar materials prepared by traditional solid-state approaches. The catalytic activities of these materials are very dependent upon the type of alumina support used. Impregnation of Mo{sub m}C{sub x}N{sub y} into preformed alumina pellets resulted in a material that specifically isomerized n-heptane into equal amounts of 2- and 3-methylhexanes, as well as iso-butane. No evidence of aromatic products was observed at operating temperatures below 420{degrees}C. The product selectivity of the isomers was 56% at a n-heptane conversion efficiency of 57%. Impregnating Mo{sub m}C{sub x}N{sub y} into an alumina powder resulted in an extremely selective aromatized and dehydrogenated material. The products from this material consist only of aromatics and n-heptenes with less than 2% isomerization or cracking products