Titania supported tungsten oxide species studied by Raman spectroscopy

Laser Raman spectroscopy has been used to study the tungsta catalyst supported on titania. The surface tungsten species which forms on titania after calcination appeared to possess a structure that is independent of the initial impregnation condition. The surface polytungstate seemed to be stable only at the interfacial region since the crystalline WO3 phase was observed as long as the tungsta loading was in excess of monolayer coverage. The close intact and strong interaction between the polytungstate and the titania could be evidenced from the inhibition of the phase transition of TiO2 from anatase to rutile.(Author)