Investigation of the Peroxovanadate Sol-Gel Process and Characterization of the Gels

In general, the peroxovanadate solution sol-gel process can be thought of as consisting of two parts: (1) the decomposition of the peroxo species and (2) cation hydrolysis leading to gelation. By controlling the synthesis conditions, both layered and amorphous compounds can be created. However, the type of water coordination observed in these gels was found to be identical no matter what the long-range order. The current work clarified many of the discrepancies found in the literature and offered much new valuable information. Highlights include the types of vanadium environments present at various stages of hydration, the role of adsorbed water, oxygen exchange from adsorbed water into the gel sites, and the ability to create metastable VMoO solid solution phases. These results could have a variety of impacts on future catalysis research