Heterogeneous catalysis field electron microscopy

A researcher in the field of heterogeneous catalysis, alongside the important studies of catalysts chemical properties (i.e., properties at a molecular level), inevitably encounters problems determining the catalyst structure at a supramolecular (textural) level. A powerful combination of physical and chemical methods (numerous variants x-ray diffraction (XRD), IR, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), XPS, EXAFS, ESR, Raman of Moessbauer spectroscopy, etc. and achievements of modem analytical chemistry) may be used to study the catalysts chemical and phase molecular structure. At the same time, characterizations of texture as a fairytale Cinderella fulfill the routine and very frequently senseless work, usually limited (obviously in our modem transcription) with electron microscopy, formal estimation of a surface area by a BET method, and eventually with porosimetry without any thorough insight. 

Thus, characterization of surfaces is important to the field of catalysis and electrocatalysis of nanoparticles. In the past 30 years, numerous electron and ion spectroscopic techniques, in addition to microscopic or imaging techniques, have been established to provide this information. Figure 1 provides high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images of a practical (real), high-surface-area, Au/anatase-Ti02 heterogeneous catalyst that show the small Au nanoparticles... 

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