The development of improved heterogeneous catalysts with enhanced reactivity and products selectivity will reduce the energetic cost and waste production of numerous chemical processes. Such progress in optimization of catalytic materials (and hence of chemical processes) relies heavily on gaining molecular level insight into the complex dynamics of catalytic reactions, which is the aim of this project.
Molecular level understanding of catalytic processes provides crucial knowledge about reaction mechanisms which is essential for the development of highly-efficient and selective catalysts. However, heterogeneities in the size, structure and composition of solid catalytic particles makes it difficult to directly monitor and identify the influence of various physiochemical parameters on the catalytic reactivity and selectivity. Thus, non-disruptive, detailed chemical information at the nanoscale is required for understanding how surface properties direct the reactivity of catalytic particles.
The overall goal of this project is to identify, on a single particle basis and under reaction conditions, the ways by which the size, structure, composition and metal-support interactions direct the reactivity of metallic nanoparticles in hydrogenation, oxidation and functionalization reactions. The knowledge gained by achieving these goals will provide guidelines for preparation of optimized catalysts.
In order to map the reactivity on single nanoparticles we employ high spatial resolution Infrared nanospectroscopy measurements, while using chemically active N-heterocyclic carbene molecules as indicators for surface-induced reactivity. With this setup we aim to identify the influence of various surface properties on the reactivity and selectivity of catalytic nanoparticles.
