Elucidating fundamental steps of the CO-NO reaction and understanding catalyst deactivation by operando HERFD-XANES measurements

Noble metal-based catalysts are widely applied throughout the chemical industry or for clean air purposes in emission control. Identifying the active species and understanding its formation and deactivation is key for designing active and long-term stable catalysts. In recent studies by our group transient Pt states of Pt/CeO2 catalysts were identified during CO oxidation by operando HERFD-XANES measurements combined with MCR-ALS and DFT calculations. As a next step, we would like to apply this powerful approach to study a Pt/Al2O3 catalyst. The reaction mechanism is not completely understood and even though Pt is very active, it also suffers from fast deactivation, especially at lower temperatures. Based on well-defined catalysts containing Pt17 cluster, we aim for fundamental mechanistic details in the reaction and the deactivation behaviour. By a systematic variation of the gas atmospheres and temperatures we want to track the Pt species and understand the cause of deactivation.