Breaking the dispersion-reducibility dependence in oxide-supported cobalt nanoparticles

Cobalt metal nanoparticles ca. 4–5 nm in size synthesized in the core of reverse micelles and supported on surface-protected delaminated ITQ-2 zeolite display a very narrow particle size distribution and a high reducibility typical of larger particles. The methodological preparation approach presented here allows breaking of the dispersion–reducibility dependence inherent to very small cobalt particles supported on oxidic carriers, thereby overcoming long-lasting difficulties in studying particle size effects in highly dispersed cobalt-based Fischer–Tropsch catalysts.