| AVS 61st International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Atom Probe Tomography Focus Topic | Thursday Sessions |
| Session AP+AS+EN+NS+SS-ThA |
| Session: | APT and FIM Analysis of Catalysts and Nanomaterials |
| Presenter: | Michael Moody, University of Oxford, UK |
| Authors: | P.A.J. Bagot, Oxford University, UK Q. Yang, University of Oxford, UK K. Kruska, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory D. Haley, University of Oxford, UK E. Marceau, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, France X. Carrier, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, France M.P. Moody, University of Oxford, UK |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Heterogeneous catalytic materials play an increasingly critical, yet largely unnoticed, role underpinning countless modern technologies. Their active components are generally transition group metals, each of which offers different catalytic properties in terms of selectivity, yield and stability under demanding operating conditions. The need to develop more efficient catalysts that meet industrial demands and comply with environmental legislation targets requires better understanding how different catalysts may alter at the atomic scale in terms of structure or surface composition under their respective operating environments. Further, many catalysts take the form of nanoparticles, the performance of which can be strongly correlated to size, shape, chemistry and structure. However, discerning the nature of nanoparticles scale poses significant challenges to conventional microscopy.
Recently, atom probe tomography (APT) techniques have been developed to provide unique insight into the behaviour of catalyst alloys subject to conditions like those experienced in service [1–3]. This study is aimed at more accurate and insightful analyses comprising unique 3D atomistic descriptions of the evolving alloy nanostructure which can then be correlated to catalyst performance. Here, APT results are presented for characterization of oxidation-induced segregation in a Pt-Pd-Rh gauze and Fe-Ni alloy catalysts. Progress in the development of new approaches for the analysis of nanoparticles via APT is also presented.
[1] T. Li et al., Atomic engineering of platinum alloy surfaces. Ultramicroscopy 132, 205 (2013).
[2] T. Li et al., Atomic Imaging of Carbon-Supported Pt, Pt/Co, and Ir@Pt Nanocatalysts by Atom-Probe Tomography. ACS Catalysis 4, 695 (2014).
[3] P. Felfer et al, Long-Chain Terminal Alcohols through Catalytic CO Hydrogenation. Journal of the American Chemical Society 135, 7114 (2013).