Speaker: Prof. Joost Wintterlin, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich

Host: Prof. Kai WU, Peking University

Time: 16:00-18:00 pm, December 1 (Thursday), 2022, GMT+8

Venue: Zoom Meeting ID: 827 6770 9131 Passcode: 20221201

Abstract:

What we know about the processes on catalyst surfaces mainly stems from indirect information and from modelings of the reaction kinetics. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) is one of the few surface analytical techniques that can be applied at high pressures, so that it could, in inciple, provide access to the atomic structure of the surfaces of operating catalysts. However, the number of examples where this has actually been achieved has remained low, a result of many practical, experimental difficulties. In this talk, I present results of a project to solve some of these difficulties. As an example, I discuss the Cocatalyzed Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, a large-scale industrial process to produce liquid hydrocarbons from mixtures of CO and H2 (syngas). After major efforts we finally managed to image the surface under reaction conditions and identify the active sites.

Source: College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering