German Society for Materials Science awards publication with HZB scientist as co-author

At its annual conference on September 22, 2014, the German Society for Materials Science (DGM), presented the Werner Köster Award for best publication. The work, whose authors include HZB scientist Dr. Michael Tovar and which has been published in the International Journal of Materials Research, examines the catalytic effect of vanadium pentoxide in propene synthesis from propane using spectroscopic, microscopic, and radiographic methods.

In order to better understand the various processes involved in propene synthesis from propane using the catalyst V₂O_5-x, scientists at the TU Berlin's Institute for Materials Sciences together with a team of researchers from Humboldt University and HZB's own Michael Tovar analyzed samples of this catalyst. They were able to show that reduction of V₂O_5-x starts at temperatures of 380 degrees C. Radiographic measurements that were analyzed with the help of HZB support offered important clues about how, during the reduction of oxygen, its release leads to formation of oxygen vacancies within the crystalline lattice.

 Publication:

Thermally activated redox-processes in V₂O_5-x under high oxygen partial pressures investigated by means of impedance spectroscopy and Rutherford backscattering

doi: 10.3139/146.110906