Evaluation of different catalysts and development of a new catalyst for the reduction of CO2CO2 to graphite

We present an evaluation of different catalysts, methods and parameters for the catalytic reduction of CO2CO2 for 14C-AMS graphite targets for radiocarbon measurement at the Physical Institute of the University Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany. Currently 10 μm iron powder is used as a catalyst to reduce carbon dioxide to graphite following our standard protocol. An optimal catalyst should provide a short reduction time, no additional fractionation effects, a good reduction yield, lack sintering and should not contain any amounts of both “dead” and “modern” carbon. Seven purchasable catalysts have been evaluated regarding this criteria. Further, the method using zinc and titanium hydride instead of hydrogen gas and the water-trap has been applied to our system and the effect of the water-trap temperature on the reduction time has been tested. A self-made catalyst was produced using aluminum oxide impregnated with iron nitrate. The results of this study indicate three good catalysts and show the success of the applied methods on standard samples like Ox II and Alfa graphite.