CH4 steam reforming on Pt + Pd/Al2O3 monolith: impact of Mn0.5Fe2.5O4 spinel addition

Zoned catalyst provides CH4 oxidation enhancement afforded by spinel under oxidation regime and mitigates the detrimental base metal species migration from spinel layer to PGM layer under reforming regime.

Theoretical insights into C-H bond activation of methane by transition metal clusters: the role of anharmonic effects

In heterogeneous catalysis, the determination of active phases has been a long-standing challenge, as materials' properties change under operational conditions (i.e. temperature (T) and pressure (p) in an atmosphere of reactive molecules). As a first step towards materials design for methane activation, we study the T and p dependence of the composition, structure, and stability of metal oxide clusters in a reactive atmosphere at thermodynamic equilibrium using a prototypical model catalyst having wide practical applications: free transition metal (Ni) clusters in a combined oxygen and methane atmosphere. A robust methodological approach is employed, where the starting point is systematic scanning of the potential energy surface (PES) to obtain the global minimum structures using a massively parallel cascade genetic algorithm (cGA) at the hybrid density functional level. The low energy clusters are further analyzed to estimate their thermodynamic stability at realistic T, p O2 and p CH4 using ab initio atomistic thermodynamics (aiAT). To incorporate the anharmonicity in the vibrational free energy contribution to the configurational entropy, we evaluate the excess free energy of the clusters numerically by a thermodynamic integration method with ab initio molecular dynamics (aiMD) simulation inputs. By analyzing a large dataset, we show that the conventional harmonic approximation miserably fails for this class of materials, and capturing the anharmonic effects on the vibration free energy contribution is indispensable. The latter has a significant impact on detecting the activation of the C-H bond, while the harmonic infrared spectrum fails to capture this, due to the wrong prediction of the vibrational modes.

Palladium dispersion effects on wet methane oxidation kinetics

The catalytic activity for dry and wet methane oxidation over a series of palladium–alumina catalysts with systematically varied palladium loadings and PdO dispersions was measured and compared with conceptual multiscale simulations.

Recent In Situ/Operando Spectroscopy Studies of Heterogeneous Catalysis with Reducible Metal Oxides as Supports

For heterogeneous catalysis, the metal catalysts supported on reducible metal oxides, especially CeO2 and TiO2, have long been a research focus because of their excellent catalytic performance in a variety of catalytic reactions. Detailed understanding of the promotion effect of reducible metal oxides on catalytic reactions is beneficial to the rational design of new catalysts. The important catalytic roles of reducible metal oxides are attributed to their intimate interactions with the supported metals (e.g., strong metal-support interaction, electronic metal-support interaction) and unique support structures (e.g., oxygen vacancy, reversible valence change, surface hydroxyl). However, the structures of the catalysts and reaction mechanisms are strongly affected by environmental conditions. For this reason, in situ/operando spectroscopy studies under working conditions are necessary to obtain accurate information about the structure-activity relationship. In this review, the recent applications of the in situ/operando spectroscopy methodology on metal catalysts with reducible metal oxides as supports are summarized.

Pd4S/SiO2: A Sulfur-Tolerant Palladium Catalyst for Catalytic Complete Oxidation of Methane

Sulfur species (e.g. H2S or SO2) are the natural enemies of most metal catalysts, especiallypalladium catalysts. The previously reported methods of improving sulfur-tolerance were toeffectively defer the deactivation of palladium catalysts, but could not prevent PdO and carrierinteraction between sulfur species. In this report, novel sulfur-tolerant SiO2 supported Pd4Scatalysts (5 wt. % Pd loading) were prepared by H2S–H2 aqueous bubble method and applied tocatalytic complete oxidation of methane. The catalysts were characterization by X-ray diffraction,Transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron Spectroscopy, temperature-programmedoxidation, and temperature-programmed desorption techniques under identical conditions. Thestructural characterization revealed that Pd4S and metallic Pd0 were found on the surface of freshlyprepared catalysts. However, Pd4S remained stable while most of metallic Pd0 was converted toPdO during the oxidation reaction. When coexisting with PdO, Pd4S not only protected PdO fromsulfur poisoning, but also determined the catalytic activity. Moreover, the content of Pd4S could beadjusted by changing H2S concentration of H2S–H2 mixture. When H2S concentration was 7 %, thePd4S/SiO2 catalyst was effective in converting 96% of methane at the 400 °C and also exhibitedlong-term stability in the presence of 200 ppm H2S. A Pd4S/SiO2 catalyst that possesses excellentsulfur-tolerance, oxidation stability, and catalytic activity has been developed for catalyticcomplete oxidation of methane.

Natural clay-supported palladium catalysts for methane oxidation reaction: effect of alloying

Bimetallic Pd-supported halloysite nanotubes revealed outstanding catalytic activity towards catalytic methane oxidation especially PdNi.

Chemical and Electrochemical Synthesis of Platinum Black

We present electrochemical and chemical synthesis of platinum black at room temperature in aqueous and non-aqueous media. X-ray analysis established the purity and crystalline nature. The electron micrographs indicate that the nanostructures consist of platinum crystals that interconnect to form porous assemblies. Additionally, the electron micrographs of the platinum black thin layer, which was electrochemically deposited on different metallic and semiconductive substrates (aluminium, platinum, silver, gold, tin-cooper alloy, indium-tin-oxide, stainless steel, and copper), indicate that the substrate influences its porous features but not its absorbance characteristics. The platinum black exhibited a broad absorbance and low reflectance in the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared regions. These characteristics make this material suitable for use as a high-temperature resistant absorber layer for the fabrication of microelectronics.

Plasmonic Nanospectroscopy of Platinum Catalyst Nanoparticle Sintering in a Mesoporous Alumina Support

In situ plasmonic nanospectroscopy has proven useful to bridge the pressure gap in heterogeneous catalysis. The method has, however, so far been used only for idealized two-dimensional systems without the structural complexity of realistic three-dimensional porous oxides, which generally are used as supports for the catalytically active metal nanoparticles. Here, we report a generic method that addresses this structural gap by demonstrating the possibility to use nanoplasmonic sensing to monitor surface processes in a traditional three-dimensional mesoporous alumina matrix, wet-impregnated with Pt nanoparticles. The capability of the experimental platform is illustrated by measuring sintering kinetics of the Pt nanoparticles inside the mesoporous matrix under oxidizing conditions at atmospheric pressure and at temperatures up to 625 °C. The study thus demonstrates in operando plasmonic nanospectroscopy of realistic, commercial catalyst systems.

The promoting influence of nickel species in the controllable synthesis and catalytic properties of nickel–ceria catalysts

The nickel species in the nickel–ceria samples were confirmed to have multi effects in the morphology and the structure formation.

Boron nitride coated rhodium black for stable production of syngas

A blanket of boron nitride grown by CVD stablizes rhodium black for syngas production in methane oxidation and avoid agglomeration of metal particle by carbon deposition.