Structural study of surface tungstate in WO3Al2O3: Effects of Hydration and 18O Exchange

Abstract The Raman spectra of a series of WO3AI2O3 catalysts containing 1‐30 wt‐% of WO3 were investigated with respect to the effect of O2 calcination and H2OD2O exposure. These studies showed that the frequencies of bands due to surface tungstate species can be shifted reversibly by as much as 6% of their values during alternate O2 calcination and H2O exposure cycles. The exchange of 18O for l6O in the surface tungstate was also investigated with Raman spectroscopy and ion‐scattering spectrometry. The results were used to assign Raman bands to fundamental vibrations of the surface tungstate and to propose a mechanism of interaction between H2O and the surface tungstate that hitherto has not been addressed for WO3AI2O3.