Idaho National Laboratory Sponsored Workshop: Efficient Manufacturing, Better Industrial Catalysts: Shifting the Focus to Composition/Kinetics

The structure/activity relationship remains a key emphasis in catalyst development. While great advances have been made for structural characterization of model systems with increasing complexity, the same revolution in understanding kinetic detail has not materialized. While model systems are useful for understanding the role of individual components, high throughput instrumentation utilizes complex materials under conditions more similar to the operating environment. Here the link between composition and activity is emphasized but kinetic techniques generally only represent the slow steps of a complex reaction mechanism. In addition, catalysts are formed kinetically; that is, the catalyst is not a fixed structure/composition but arises from the history and path taken through the formation process. This morning workshop will explore a new shift in focus to composition/kinetics to advance understanding of complex industrial materials and the evolution of active/selective surfaces. Real catalysts present emergent properties that cannot be emulated with model systems. Starting with complex materials, understanding the role of metal species in a multistep reaction mechanism could provide better guidance for the design of advanced materials for more efficient industrial processes. This workshop seeks input from an industrial perspective for the challenges in distilling the convolution of complexity of the material with complexity of the reaction mechanism. Transient kinetic techniques can provide much greater detail and their link to composition of complex industrial materials will be explored.