Atomic force and scanning electron microscopic investigation of the in operandi creation of selective sites on MoO3 mixed with α-Sb2O4 in the isobutene to methacrolein oxidation

We show that the creation of selective sites on MoO3 due to remote control effects, has, as a counterpart, the spillover-induced reconstruction of the non-selective (010) faces of MoO3 crystals in selective (100) pits and steps. The phenomenon is observed both at the micrometric scale, by SEM, and at the nanometric scale, by AFM.