Tuneable Catalysis and the Particle Size Puzzle
Important step in heterogenous catalysis: Scientists at TU Wien (Vienna) succeed in linking microscopic and macroscopic approaches - and thus solve an old puzzle.
The selectivity of 1-butene hydrogenation/isomerization on Pd catalysts is known to be particle size dependent. It is shown that combining well-defined model catalysts, atmospheric pressure reaction kinetics, DFT calculations and microkinetic modeling enables to rationalize the nanoparticle size effect based on the abundance and the specific properties of the contributing surface facets.
The international research team (top left to bottom right): Alexander Genest (Vienna), Joaquín Silvestre-Albero (Alicante), Wen-Qing Li (Singapore), Notker Rösch (Munich), Günther Rupprechter (Vienna), and „the workstation“.
TU Press Release: www.tuwien.at/tu-wien/aktuelles/news/news/steuerbare-katalyse-die-loesung-des-teilchengroessen-problems, opens an external URL in a new window
Original publication: A. Genest et al., The origin of the particle-size-dependent selectivity in 1-butene isomerization and hydrogenation on Pd/Al2O3 catalysts, Nature Communications volume 12, 6098 (2021).
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26411-8, opens an external URL in a new window
This study was funded by FWF within the Project „Single Atom Catalysis“.
Contact information:
Prof. Günther Rupprechter
Institut für Materialchemie
Technische Universität Wien
T: +43-1-58801-165100
guenther.rupprechter@tuwien.ac.at
Dr. Alexander Genest
Institut für Materialchemie
Technische Universität Wien
T: +43-1-58801-165101
alexander.genest@tuwien.ac.at