Morphology and morphogenesis of bimetallic heterogeneous catalysts with planned architectures

Abstract

Heterogeneous catalysts are used for the production of many intermediate and final chemical products and, therefore the improvement in catalyst performance motivates a lot of academic and industrial research. The structural complexity of the interface where the chemical reactions take place, between the reagents liquid phase and the solid supported bimetallic nanoparticles, make the understanding of the factors of catalyst performance very challenging. In this project, new materials, with the distribution of the components planned at the nanoscale, will be synthesized and their catalytic performance will be measured in reduction and oxidation model reactions of small organic molecules. Methods for the synthesis of the materials, by thermal process of reduction and oxidation in controlled atmospheres, starting from different combinations of nanostructured supports impregnated with metallic salts, will be developed for the achievement of four different types of planned morphologies. The conscious development of methodologies for the synthesis of structurally well-defined materials depends on the detailed description of the materials morphology. Advanced techniques of Analytical Electron Microscopy (AEM) will be employed for the acquisition of chemical maps of individual nanoparticles, as well as a global description of the particles size, chemical composition and spatial dispersion distributions. Measurable differences are expected for the catalytic performance of the obtained materials, which will be systematically associated to their morphological differences. A higher level of understanding of the correlation between catalyst materials morphology and performance will be achieved by the accomplishment of this project. (AU)