(617fu) Controlling Carbon Affinity with Transition Metal Ceramics and Intermetallic Alloys to Modify the Degree of Olefin and Aromatic Activation

Investigating how to control the carbon affinity and the degrees of activation of olefins and aromatics is of vital interest to the production of fuels and chemicals from petroleum and biomass feedstocks. Moderate activation of the olefin/aromatic is needed to inhibit unselective reactions and the breakdown of the valuable reactant. Transition metals (TM) mixed with p-block elements â?? TM ceramics (TM + B, C, N, O, S, P, Se, etc.) and intermetallics (TM + post TM elements) â?? exhibit a wide range of surface chemistry towards carbon that can be systematically tuned to control selectivity and catalytic activity in the activation of unsaturated hydrocarbons (HCs). The presentation will focus on ceramics and intermetallics and the general trends we encountered in the activation of the olefin/aromatic. Through a combined experimental/theoretical approach, we investigated the effect of p-block element selection and elemental ratio on surface chemistry, the tunability of carbon affinity and the degrees of molecule activation, and the connection of the surface chemistry to the electronic structures and the changes of work function.