Free electron density and heterogeneous catalysis

Dr. Christiaan Richter, lektor við Rochester Institute of Technology og umsækjandi um stöðu í efnaverkfræði við Iðnaðarverkfræði-, vélaverkfræði- og tölvunarfræðideild Háskóla Íslands flytur erindi undir heitinu Free electron density and heterogeneous catalysis.

 

Ágrip

What is it that renders metals like Pt, Pd, Au, Ni, Ag and Co catalysts of choice for a wide range of reactions? What properties of a given metal from this group determine the fact that it will have higher (or lower) selectivity and reactivity towards a given reaction? In this presentation we will consider recent advances in spectroscopy, and in the synthesis of the catalyst support materials, that could potentially allow us to answer these questions more comprehensively (based on direct experiment) than was possible to date.

To achieve this goal the presentation will have three parts:

 

1) We will briefly review the relatively new technique of terahertz spectroscopy and its unique ability to directly measure the optical spectrum of free carriers within solids and nanomaterials.1

2) We will briefly review the anodic (electrochemical) synthesis of nanostructured metal oxides discovered in 2001.

3) We will consider the recent demonstration2 of unprecedented fast O2 cleavage at room temperature on a highly doped metal oxide and discuss the possible extension of this result to desirable catalytic reactions like efficient CO2 reduction.