Every catalyst particle contains a kind of “road network” over which molecules travel to the active sites in a catalyst. Metals can clog this road network, making the active sites unreachable. A research team from Utrecht University and Stanford has used a new imaging methodology to create a detailed road map of one catalyst particle. This new knowledge will eventually lead to the design of better catalysts for existing or new chemical production processes. The researchers published their results on August 30 in the open access journal Nature Communications.
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Method for creating a road map of a catalyst particle, which includes determining the positions
of the road blocks and simulating the transport of a molecule through the road network,
which may or may not be clogged by impurities.
Publication
Relating Struture and Composition with Accessibiity of a Single Particle Catalyst using Correlative 3-Dimensional Micro-Spectroscopy
Yijin Liu, Florian Meirer*, Courtney M. Krest, Samuel Webb & Bert M. Weckhuysen*
Nature Communications, 2016, 7, 12634, DOI 10.1038/ncomms12634
* Connected to Utrecht University
Read more
- Press release UU
- Paper in Nature Communications
- News coverage in C2W August 30, 2016(Dutch)
- News coverage in C2W September 23, 2016 (Dutch)
- Press release SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
- News coverage in E&E ClimateWire (entitled ‘Emissions from ‘cracking’ oil to make gas could be cut’