Improving catalytic converters

To improve catalytic converters, industrial scientists carry out experiments by reproducing real-life conditions on the beamline. X-ray absorption spectroscopy yields essential in situ and dynamic information about the local structure and the electronic environment of the metal catalyst during the reaction. Its kinetic behaviour can be simultaneously controlled and observed on a time scale of milliseconds.

A catalytic converter transforms pollutants into harmless gases (N₂ and CO₂),  see a video of it fonctioning (wmv, 4 mo).

Following reaction conditions in real time with X-ray absorption spectroscopy and infrared absorption (Credit: M. Newton, ESRF).

Further information:

• A structural-reactive rollercoaster: palladium nanoparticles during redox cycling

• Nanoparticle behaviour in changing environments: dynamic structural reorganisation in supported Pd nanoparticles during redox cycling

• Synchronising subsecond infrared and X-ray absorption spectroscopies to see inside a reactive process

• Ref.: M. A. Newton et al., Nature Materials 6, 528-532 (2007).