Enhanced catalytic activity of microporous glass-ceramics with a skeleton of NASICON-type copper(I) titanium phosphate crystal

Catalytic activity of porous CuTi2(PO4)3 glass-ceramics for the oxidation of propene to acrolein was found to be increased by a “post-crystallization heating” of the mother (dense) glass-ceramic. Porous glass-ceramics were prepared by a controlled volume-crystallization of the mother glass (dense glass-ceramics), followed by acid leaching. The specific surface areas were decreased monotonically with increasing post-crystallization heating temperature, while the conversion of propene on the porous glass-ceramic reached maximum (∼80 mol%) for the specimen submitted to a post-crystallization temperature of ∼800°C. The catalytic activity of the as-prepared porous glass-ceramics is discussed in terms of their microstructure.