AVS 63rd International Symposium & Exhibition
    In-Situ and Operando Spectroscopy and Microscopy for Catalysts, Surfaces, & Materials Focus Topic Wednesday Sessions
       Session IS+HC-WeA

Invited Paper IS+HC-WeA9
In situ Spectroscopy for Catalyst Design

Wednesday, November 9, 2016, 5:00 pm, Room 101C

Session: Ambient Pressure XPS Studies of Surface and Chemistry of Catalysts
Presenter: Rosa Arrigo, Diamond Light Source, Oxfordshire, UK
Correspondent: Click to Email
Observing structural dynamics of heterogeneous catalysts in action yields important mechanistic insights to guide the synthesis towards improved materials. Synchrotron-based ambient pressure X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (AP-XPS) has become very popular worldwide to serve this purpose.1-3 One expanding field of application of this technique is electro-catalysis2-3 due to its central role in a renewable energy scenario. In this contribution, I will present two examples of the application of this technique to study the gas/solid interface of electro-catalysts for a polymeric electrolyte membrane-based electrode assembly.4 The first example is the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), which occurs at the anode side of an electrochemical cell for water electrolysis. Herein, the highly debated descriptions of the electronic structure of the oxygen evolving Pt4 and Ir5 surfaces are clarified. The second example is the CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) to fuel over Fe on N-functionalised carbon-based electro-catalysts. These catalysts proved to be active for the CO2 reduction but the competing hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) from water reduction is favored. Results of this research will be presented which enable us to shine light onto the nature of the H evolving sites and CO2 reducing sites on this type of catalyst.

[1] H. Bluhm, M. Hävecker, A. Knop-Gericke, M. Kiskinova, R. Schlögl, M. Salmeron, MRS Bulletin 32, 2007, 1022.

[2] J. J Velasco-Velez, V. Pfeifer, M. Hävecker, R. S Weatherup, R. Arrigo, C.-H. Chuang, E. Stotz, G. Weinberg, M. Salmeron, R. Schlögl, A. Knop-Gericke, Angewandte Chemie International Edition 54, 2015, DOI: 10.1002/anie.201506044.

[3] Z. Liu, H. Bluhm, Hard X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (HAXPES), 447-466. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-24043-5_17.

[4] R. Arrigo, M. Haevecker, M. E. Schuster, C. Ranjan, E. Stotz, A. Knop-Gericke, R. Schloegl, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 52, 2013, 11660-11664.

[5] V. Pfeifer, T. Jones, J.-J. Velesco-Velez, M. Greiner, C. Massué, R. Arrigo, D. Teschner, F. Girgsdies, M. Scherzer, J. Allan, M. Hashagen, G. Weinberg, S. Piccinin, M. Haevecker, A. Knop-Gericke, R. Schlögl, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 18, 2015, DOI: 10.1039/C5CP06997A.