Compensation effect and its use in catalyst correlations

Catalysts of varying surface properties (e.g. surface area, pore volume and crystallite size) and of varying bulk properties (e.g. metallic radius, heat of formation of oxide and percentage d‐character) were evaluated as catalysts for the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide. Surface properties were varied by studying the following catalysts: unsupported nickel oxide, nickel oxide/α‐alumina, nickel oxide/α‐alumina and nickel oxide/silica‐alumina. The bulk properties were varied by studying the oxide catalysts of different metals such as nickel, chromium, mangenese, cobalt and palladium. The results obtained from this work along with the data obtained from a search of the literature, were correlated using a compensation plot (linear relationship between the activation energy and the logarithm of the frequency factor). General correlations for bulk properties and catalytic activities are presented for the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide. The use of a “Compensation Effect” for the hydrogenation of ethylene is also discussed.