A catalytic application of Cu2O and CuO films deposited over fiberglass

With the purpose of utilizing copper oxides over fiberglass as a novel catalyst material in oxidation reactions, we have used the chemical vapor deposition of 2,4-pentanedionate copper(II) as a precursor and fiberglass as substrate. The deposition of copper oxides was achieved in a horizontal-flow reactor using O-2 as carrier-reactant gas at several deposition temperatures. Copper species deposited on fiberglass were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-visible spectrophotometry (UV-VIs) and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) techniques. The fiberglass coated with copper oxides showed a catalytic activity for the oxidation of ethanol into a stream of air at different temperatures in a pulse microreactor. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V, All rights reserved.