Heterogeneities in activity among or even within catalytic particles are common, but poorly understood. To eliminate variations in activity and thus optimize the catalyst activity, tools are necessary to characterize individual catalytic reaction events with high spatial and time resolution. It has until now not been possible to visualize each step in the catalytic process. The goal of this project is to do exactly this. Using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, catalytic reactions will be followed on the level of individual events: the diffusion of the reactant molecule, adsorption on the catalyst, reaction, desorption of the product, and diffusion out.
Project leader: Dr. Freddy Rabouw