Structure catalyst characterization

To summarize, structural catalyst characterization studies must address the following issues ... 

With the inclusion of more sophisticated techniques such as those mentioned above and others, NMR is an excellent quantitative tool for structural catalyst characterization. On the other hand, the question of how this information can be used to understand catalytic mechanisms and to design more potent catalysts often remains unresolved by these studies. Perhaps this is so because to date most NMR applications have sought to correlate catalytic activities with specific structural features present either in the catalyst or on its surface under room temperature conditions. In future studies there should be increasing emphasis on catalyst characterization under operation conditions in situ, including the search for transient adsorbates and reactive intermediates. In fact, such studies are now emerging in other fields of catalysis [90-92]. 

In Chapter 1 we emphasized that the properties of a heterogeneous catalyst surface are determined by its composition and structure on the atomic scale. Hence, from a fundamental point of view, the ultimate goal of catalyst characterization should be to examine the surface atom by atom under the reaction conditions under which the catalyst operates, i.e. in situ. However, a catalyst often consists of small particles of metal, oxide, or sulfide on a support material. Chemical promoters may have been added to the catalyst to optimize its activity and/or selectivity, and structural promoters may have been incorporated to improve the mechanical properties and stabilize the particles against sintering. As a result, a heterogeneous catalyst can be quite complex. Moreover, the state of the catalytic surface generally depends on the conditions under which it is used. 

X-ray diffraction is one of the oldest and most frequently applied techniques in catalyst characterization. It is used to identify crystalline phases inside catalysts by means of lattice structural parameters, and to obtain an indication of particle size. 

The strength of XRD for catalyst characterization is that it gives dear and unequivocal structure information on particles that are sufficiently large, along with an estimate of their size, and it can reveal this information under reaction conditions. The limitation of XRD is that it can not detect partides that are either too small or amor-... 

Homogeneous catalysts are very often known as examples of single-site catalysts characterized by complete structural definition and (presumably) complete knowledge of the chemical processes occurring at their catalytic centers. It is a matter of fact that the homogeneous catalysts are molecular complexes constituted by an active core containing a single active atom (of-... 

An NMR and structural study characterized the intermediates generated from diimine catalysts on reaction with diazodiphenylmethane.193 The dominant species in solution is dinuclear, but a monomeric metallocarbene species can be detected. 

Temperature-programmed reduction combined with x-ray absorption fine-structure (XAFS) spectroscopy provided clear evidence that the doping of Fischer-Tropsch synthesis catalysts with Cu and alkali (e.g., K) promotes the carburization rate relative to the undoped catalyst. Since XAFS provides information about the local atomic environment, it can be a powerful tool to aid in catalyst characterization. While XAFS should probably not be used exclusively to characterize the types of iron carbide present in catalysts, it may be, as this example shows, a useful complement to verify results from Mossbauer spectroscopy and other temperature-programmed methods. The EXAFS results suggest that either the Hagg or s-carbides were formed during the reduction process over the cementite form. There appears to be a correlation between the a-value of the product distribution and the carburization rate. 

Conventional HRTEM operates at ambient temperature in high vacuum and directly images the local structure of a catalyst at the atomic level, in real space. In HRTEM, as-prepared catalyst powders can be used without additional sample preparation. The method does not normally require special treatment of thin catalyst samples. In HRTEM, very thin samples can be treated as WPOs, whereby the image intensity can be correlated with the projected electrostatic potential of the crystal, leading to the atomic structural information characterizing the sample. Furthermore, the detection of electron-stimulated XRE in the EM permits simultaneous determination of the chemical composition of the catalyst. Both the surface and sub-surface regions of catalysts can be investigated. 

The catalytic properties of a surface are determined by its composition and structure on the atomic scale. Hence, it is not sufficient to know that a surface consists of a metal and a promoter, say iron and potassium, but it is essential to know the exact structure of the iron surface, including defects, steps, etc., as well as the exact locations of the promoter atoms. Thus, from a fundamental point of view, the ultimate goal of catalyst characterization should be to look at the surface atom by atom, and under reaction conditions. The well-defined surfaces of single crystals offer the best likelihood of atom-by-atom characterization, although occasionally atomic scale information can be obtained from real catalysts under in situ conditions as well, as the examples in Chapter 9 show. 

The industrial view on catalyst characterization is different. Here the emphasis is mainly on developing an active, selective, stable and mechanically robust catalyst. In order to accomplish this, tools are needed which identify those structural properties that discriminate between efficient and less efficient catalysts. All spectroscopic information that helps to achieve this is welcome. Establishing empirical relationships between the factors that govern catalyst composition, particle size and shape and pore dimensions on the one hand and catalytic performance on the other are extremely useful in the process of catalyst development, although such relationships may not give much fundamental insight into how the catalyst operates in molecular detail. 

This chapter deals with the study of structural properties of catalysts and catalytic model surfaces by means of interference effects in scattered radiation. X-ray diffraction is one of the oldest and most frequently applied techniques in catalyst characterization. It is used to identify crystalline phases inside catalysts by means of lattice structural parameters, and to obtain an indication of particle size. Low energy electron diffraction is the surface sensitive analog of XRD, which, however, is only applicable to single crystal surfaces. LEED reveals the structure of surfaces and of ordered adsorbate layers. Both XRD and LEED depend on the constructive interference of radiation that is scattered by relatively large parts of the sample. As a consequence, these techniques require long-range order. 

In this chapter we present four case studies to illustrate catalyst characterization from a problem-oriented approach. The intention is to show what can be achieved by using combinations of techniques. The selected studies all have the aim of determining the composition and the structure of a catalyst or a catalytic surface in atomic detail. 

Let us take 1978 as the starting point. Massoth [51] then published an extensive review of what was known about the structure of HDS catalysts. Characterization was essentially based on techniques such as X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, photoelectron spectroscopy, electron spin resonance and magnetic methods. Massoth was rather unhappy with the state of affairs in 1978. He was struck by the ...diversity and apparent contradictions of results and interpretations... It almost seems as though everyone is working with a different catalyst . 

In this chapter, we introduce some of the most common spectroscopies and methods available for the characterization of heterogeneous catalysts [3-13], These techniques can be broadly grouped according to the nature of the probes employed for excitation, including photons, electrons, ions, and neutrons, or, alternatively, according to the type of information they provide. Here we have chosen to group the main catalyst characterization techniques by using a combination of both criteria into structural, thermal, optical, and surface-sensitive techniques. We also focus on the characterization of real catalysts, and toward the end make brief reference to studies with model systems. Only the basics of each technique and a few examples of applications to catalyst characterization are provided, but more specialized references are included for those interested in a more in-depth discussion. 

Most of the techniques discussed above are typically used ex situ for catalyst characterization before and after reaction. This is normally the easiest way to carry out the experiments, and is often sufficient to acquire the required information. However, it is known that the reaction environment plays an important role in determining the structure and properties of working catalysts. Consequently, it is desirable to also try to perform catalytic studies under realistic conditions, either in situ [113,114,157, 191-193] or in the so-called operando mode, with simultaneous kinetics measurements [194-196], In addition, advances in high-throughput (also known as combinatorial) catalysis call for the fast and simultaneous analysis of a large number of catalytic samples [197,198], This represents a new direction for further research. 

For more than five decades, the methods of surface physics and chemistry have provided some of the most incisive results advancing our understanding of the catalytic action of solids at the molecular scale. Characterizations by physical methods have demonstrated the dynamic nature of catalyst surfaces, showing that their structures, compositions, and reactivities may all be sensitive to temperature and the composition of the reactive environment. Thus, the most insightful catalyst characterizations are those of catalysts as they function. This volume of Advances in Catalysis is dedicated to the topic of physical characterization of solid catalysts in the functioning state. Because the literature of this topic has become so extensive, the representation will extend beyond the present volume to the subsequent two volumes of the Advances. 

In recent years, it has been realized that techniques based on X-ray absorption provide important additional possibilities for catalyst characterization. Techniques such as X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectroscopy have had a significant impact on catalyst research. For example, the application of these techniques has for the first time allowed structural descriptions of many catalysts which, because of the presence of microcrystalline structures (nanophase particles) or amorphous phases, cannot be elucidated by XRD. 

The most serious limitation of XRD as a catalyst characterization method is often related to the fact that many of the phases present in a catalyst may not give rise to any well-defined diffraction line at all. Absence of a diffraction pattern is a consequence of the requirement that a structure must contain a periodicity extending more than about 2-3 nm to yield a diffraction pattern measurable in a sense of the Bragg equation [Eq. (1)]. Thus, particles or domains with sizes smaller than 2-3 nm will appear to be X-ray amorphous in XRD experiments i.e., they do not exhibit sharp diffraction lines. 

At the present time much effort is being devoted to tailor-making of new nanomaterials with specific catalytic properties. In this quest for constantly decreasing the dimensions of the catalytically active components, one will unavoidably encounter materials that will be partly or completely X-ray amorphous. The present review has shown that the combined EXAFS/ XRD techniques are uniquely well suited for providing the necessary structural understanding. Thus, in view of the trend in catalyst technologies and advances in technique developments, the application of the combined techniques will no doubt play an increasing role in future catalyst characterization efforts. We now briefly discuss some likely applications and technique developments which involve the X-ray techniques discussed presently. 

In 1943, A. C. Byrns et al. (7), of Union Oil of California published the first study showing under semi-industrial conditions the relative activities of Mo03 and CoO and the mechanical mixture of these two oxides, which they compared to C0M0O4 supported on bentonite. These authors demonstrated that a mixture of molybdenum and cobalt in their oxidic state should be chemically associated in order to be very active, while the simple mechanical mixture only showed the additive activities of the individual oxides. However, these authors mainly emphasized the behavior of these catalysts under different industrial conditions and reduced their discussion of catalyst structure and characterization to a few lines of speculation. 

Structural and compositional characterization of individual elements of a combinatorial library can be important for the initial validation of a particular combinatorial synthesis method. Many earlier reports on combinatorial synthesis and screening of electrocatalysts fall short of reporting the complete structural and compositional characterization of individual library elements of interest. The workflow described here includes catalyst characterization before and after screening, thereby establishing an activity-composition-structure-stability relationship for electrocatalysts. This can be relevant in light of the extreme conditions present in a conventional fuel cell environment. 

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