A new X-ray absorption cell dedicated to in situ and operando experiments in heterogeneous catalysis has been built and tested. The cell consists of several boron nitride and stainless steel plates linked together using graphite seals. It allows the measurement of XANES and EXAFS spectra of heterogeneous catalysts within a wide range of photon energies in transmission mode under the flow of various oxidative and reductive gas mixtures at elevated temperatures. The cell is compact and easy to build. Catalysts are loaded into the cell as powders. The use of boron nitride and a small beam pathlength in the cell result in a low absorption of the X-ray beam at lower energies. The cell was tested by in situ characterizing cobalt species during oxidative and reductive pre-treatments of a silica-supported Fischer-Tropsch catalyst. An operando study of methanol conversion over alumina-supported molybdenum catalysts was also carried out.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1107/S0909049505019618 | DOI Listing |
Acc Mater Res
January 2025
Department of Chemistry, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, U.K.
Methane (CH), which is the main component of natural gas, is an abundant and widely available carbon resource. However, CH has a low energy density of only 36 kJ L under ambient conditions, which is significantly lower than that of gasoline (. 34 MJ L).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNano Lett
January 2025
Electron Microscopy Center, Empa - Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Überlandstrasse 129, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland.
The computational cost of simulating scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) images limits the curation of large enough data sets to train accurate and robust machine learning networks for deep feature extraction from atomically resolved STEM images. For nanoparticle size estimation in particular, a diverse data set is essential due to the large variations in size, shape, crystallinity, orientation, and dynamical diffraction effects in experimental data. To address this, we train a 3D convolutional neural network to predict STEM images from voxelized atomic models, achieving a 100x speed-up compared to traditional multislice simulations while maintaining high image quality.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Nano
January 2025
Creative Research Initiative Center for Nanospace-confined Chemical Reactions (NCCR), Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang 37673, Korea.
Unlike homogeneous metal complexes, achieving absolute control over reaction selectivity in heterogeneous catalysts remains a formidable challenge due to the unguided molecular adsorption/desorption on metal-surface sites. Conventional organic surface modifiers or ligands and rigid inorganic and metal-organic porous shells are not fully effective. Here, we introduce the concept of "ligand-porous shell cooperativity" to desirably reaction selectivity in heterogeneous catalysis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAngew Chem Int Ed Engl
January 2025
University of York, Chemistry, Heslington, YO105DD, York, UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND.
A tandem catalytic ensemble of solid-state molecular organometallic (SMOM) crystalline pre-catalysts are deployed under batch or flow conditions for the ethene to propene process (ETP). These catalysts operate at ambient temperature and low pressure, via sequential ethene dimerization, butenes isomerization and cross-metathesis. Under flow conditions the on-stream ethene conversion (55%), initial propene selectivity (92%), stability (71% selectivity after 7 hrs) and low temperature/pressures are competitive with the best-in-class heterogenous systems, marking a new, in crystallo, approach to ETP.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Rep
January 2025
Department of Chemistry, Catalysis Division, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, 81746-73441, Iran.
Biodiesel presents a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels, yet traditional homogeneous catalysts like sodium and potassium hydroxide face challenges with separation and reuse. Calcium oxide (CaO) is an effective heterogeneous catalyst for biodiesel production, but its chemical instability under reaction conditions restricts its long-term performance. This study introduces MOF-mediated synthesis (MOFMS) of heterogeneous catalysts, specifically CaO@ZnO and ZnO@CaO nanocomposites, from inexpensive and non-toxic metal salts and linkers in water.
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