Designing heterogeneous catalysts with optimized selectivity and activity for clean fuels, through CO2 reduction, natural gas upgrading and hydrogen production has a large economic and ecologic impact. The need to abstain from noble metal-based catalysts call for novel formulations with increased focus on support-active phase synergy. To navigate and tune the underlying complex potential energy landscape, the mechanism of catalytic reactions needs to be revealed and a full material development pipeline, including preparation, characterization, and performance benchmarking, developed. Computational modeling and fast sampling probes provide feedback to the synthesis and operations optimization. The user facilities at BNL, e.g. CFN, CSI, and NSLS-II, provide some of the most advanced tools to visualize in real time under real reaction conditions (“operando”) these chemical and structural changes and interactions using soft and hard x-rays.
The workshop will showcase state-of-the-art industrial and research catalyst developments, identifying key scientific questions, experimental conditions essential to study working catalysts, and enabling instrument access modes. A second session focused on successful operando synchrotron experiments will show not only the status of the existing technology and data analysis but also lay the base for a gap analysis to identify action items to fully utilize the state-of-the-art instruments and data analysis approaches at BNL. The workshop will conclude with a panel discussion, summarizing the findings and providing participants with the opportunity to form working groups to address the emerging issues.
Workshop Organizers: Iradwikanari Waluyo (NSLS-II), Klaus Attenkofer (NSLS-II), Eli Stavitski (NSLS-II), Adrian Hunt (NSLS-II), Anibal Boscoboinik (CFN), Ashley Head (CFN)