Temperature-programmed techniques

It has also been postulated using molecular modeling and proven experimentally using temperature-programmed techniques that promotion with boron inhibits detrimental carbon formation.71 Ab initio calculations indicate that boron... 

Other temperature-programmed techniques include Temperature Programmed Oxidation and Sulfidation (TPO and TPS) for investigating oxidation and sulfidation behaviour, and Temperature Programmed Desorption (TPD) (also called Thermal Desorption Spectroscopy [TDS]), which analyses gases desorbed from the surface of a solid or a catalyst on heating. 

Theoretical models based on first principles, such as Langmuir s adsorption model, help us understand what is happening at the catalyst surface. However, there is (still) no substitute for empirical evidence, and most of the papers published on heterogeneous catalysis include a characterization of surfaces and surface-bound species. Chemists are faced with a plethora of characterization methods, from micrometer-scale particle size measurement, all the way to angstrom-scale atomic force microscopy [77]. Some methods require UHV conditions and room temperature, while others work at 200 bar and 750 °C. Some methods use real industrial catalysts, while others require very clean single-crystal model catalysts. In this book, I will focus on four main areas classic surface characterization methods, temperature-programmed techniques, spectroscopy and microscopy, and analysis of macroscopic properties. For more details on the specific methods see the references in each section, as well as the books by Niemantsverdriet [78] and Thomas [79]. 

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