Adapted from this Berkeley Lab press release
A research team of Foundry users designed and fabricated catalysts that can increase the speed of carbon monoxide oxidation by nine times. Carbon monoxide oxidation is an important reaction used in numerous chemical industry and environmental cleaning applications. The cutting-edge fabrication approach involved making precise, atomic-level changes in catalysts to create new, performance-boosting chemical properties.
“Our study provided deep insights into the chemical structure, reaction mechanisms, and performance of these advanced catalysts,” said Ji Su, a Foundry user who is a research scientist in Berkeley Lab’s Energy Technologies Area (ETA). “It sets the stage for a new era in superior catalyst design, with potential to dramatically improve the production efficiency of a wide range of chemical industry and environmental applications.” The research was published in Science.
Catalysts are materials that increase the speed of chemical reactions. The chemical industry relies heavily on catalysts to make production more cost-effective and higher quality, with about 95% of fuel and chemical products using one or more catalysts in their manufacturing process. Cars use catalysts to oxidize harmful emissions in exhaust, including unburned fuel and carbon monoxide.
Besides faster reaction speed, another desirable catalyst attribute is selectivity. This refers to the catalyst’s ability to activate more efficient reaction pathways, maximize output of desired products, and minimize waste products.
Traditionally, catalysts have been made by fabricating particles, or clusters of hundreds of atoms. In recent years, researchers have been investigating advanced fabrication techniques that involve manipulating individual metal atoms on a catalyst’s surface. The idea is to tailor chemical properties that enable faster, more selective catalytic reactions.
The team developed a new treatment process that involves loading a single platinum atom onto a specific location on a cerium oxide surface, with the platinum replacing a cerium atom.
Next, in a process like building with Lego bricks, the researchers applied hydrogen molecules to the platinum-cerium structure. The hydrogen molecules split into atoms that bond with the cerium. For comparison, the team also made a control catalyst by randomly loading a platinum atom on a cerium oxide surface, without any hydrogen treatments.
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The team tested the catalysts’ performance in two reactions. The first was oxidation of carbon monoxide to yield carbon dioxide. The second was removal of hydrogen from propane to make propylene, which is an important raw material in plastics. The latter has emerged as a promising alternative to conventional propylene production.
The precisely tailored catalyst oxidized carbon monoxide nine times faster than the control catalyst. It was also 2.3 times more selective at converting propane to propylene.
The researchers used the Molecular Foundry’s high-resolution imaging techniques to visualize platinum inserted into the surface. They also used the Molecular Foundry to conduct simulations to characterize the atomic structures and reaction pathways.
Read more in the full press release.
