ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

Protons in silica supported phosphotungstic acid catalysts

Abstract: Acid catalysts use highly mobile protons to activate a range of organic compounds such as olefins. The radicals then react to form long chain olefins. The reaction mechanism can be controlled by adjusting the acidity of the solid catalyst. Phosphorus tungsten acid (PTA) is such a catalyst whose catalytic activity can be enhanced by interaction with oxide supports. Catalysis experiments have demonstrated the efficacy of silica supported PTA, but the origin of the activity, e.g. due to a change in acidity, is debated. We performed X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy experiments, which indicate electronic structure changes due to electron transfer between PTA and oxide. However, electron spectroscopy cannot measure the hydrogen partial density of state, making it difficult to attribute the measured changes to increased acidity. We therefore plan to use neutron inelastic scattering (INS) at TOSCA to measure the hydrogen-dominated vibrational density of states, which will allow us to distinguish between protons and other hydrogen atoms (mainly as water) in the compound.

Principal Investigator: Dr Andreas Borgschulte
Experimenter: Ms Alessia Cesarini
Experimenter: Dr Ali Saadun
Local Contact: Dr Svemir Rudic
Experimenter: Dr Anibal Ramirez-Cuesta
Experimenter: Dr Jongmin Lee

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2510298

ISIS Experiment Number: RB2510298

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
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Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Dr Andreas Borgschulte et al; (2026): Protons in silica supported phosphotungstic acid catalysts, STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2510298

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.