Effects of metal-organic framework-derived iron carbide phases for CO hydrogenation activity to hydrocarbons

Metal-organic framework (MOF)-derived iron carbides (FeC) by a direct pyrolysis of MIL-100(Fe) revealed a higher catalytic activity without any previous reductive treatment for CO hydrogenation by Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) reaction due to its easy formation of active iron carbide phases with its smaller iron crystallite size. To preserve the smaller crystallite size of active FeC on the MOF-derived catalysts, an optimal pyrolysis temperature (~700 °C) and duration (~4 h) were proposed, which increased the formations of active χ-Fe₅C₂ with the FeOx core nanoparticles encapsulated with much thinner carbon layers as confirmed by Mőssbauer analysis by enhancing specific surface area (331 m²/g) with smaller formations of aggregated larger Fe nanoparticles.