Metal–support interaction effects on the growth of filamentous carbon over Co/SiO2 catalysts Original Research Article

The addition of BaO, La2O3 and ZrO2 to the SiO2 support of a 12 wt.% Co/SiO2 catalyst modifies the reduction behavior of Co species and leads to changes in metal dispersion. These changes are due to a modified metal–support interaction (MSI) between cobalt species and the MexOy/SiO2 (MexOy: BaO, ZrO2 and La2O3) support. Catalyst characterization by temperature-programmed reduction (TPR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) have been used to determine the relative strength of the MSI and the results suggest an increasing MSI in the order Co/SiO2≈Co/BaO/SiO2