In-situ investigations of the photocatalytic reaction of NO with propane on the vanadium silicalite-1 catalyst

The in-situ characterization of the vanadium silicalite-1 catalyst (VS-1) by means of photoluminescence, ESR and XAFS investigative techniques revealed that this catalyst includes highly dispersed V-O moieties having a tetrahedral coordination in C-3v symmetry with one short V=O bond (1.63 Angstrom) and three long V-O bonds (1.73 Angstrom). The photocatalytic decomposition reaction oF NO into N-2 was found to proceed much more efficiently in the presence of propane than without. A dynamic quenching study of the photoluminescence spectrum of the VS-1 catalyst by the addition of NO and propane indicates that the excited state of the V-O moieties plays a significant role in this photocatalytic reaction.