Tracking the spatiotemporal chemistry of a RuO2 catalyst under CO2 methanation conditions at 160ºC

We recently discovered a new Ru material that activates CO2 and H2 at low temperatures (160-180 °C), catalyzing the formation of methane with competitive methane production compared to state-of-the-art Ru and Ni catalysts. The catalyst contain different crystalline phases (RuO2, C-doped RuO2, Ru metal) undergoing a serie of structural and compositional changes under reaction conditions, being strongly influenced by the reaction conditions. The goal of the work is to perform spatiotemporal XRD imaging of the catalyst with chemical contrast, identifying how the different crystalline phases progress as a function of the position in the catalyst bed in a time resolved manner.