Structural changes in PdO/Al2O3 catalysts in liquid phase: from PdO reduction to hydrogenation reaction.

Based on previous knowledge on the effects of pre-reducing agents on the reducibility of PdO/Al2O3 catalysts and on the properties of the supported Pd nanoparticles (NPs), this proposal aims to investigate by High-Q XRD/PDF in situ measurements the isothermal reduction of PdO/Al2O3 catalysts in water in the presence of different reducing agents. The results will contribute to establish the thermodynamics (activation energy) and kinetics (mechanism) of liquid phase PdO reduction as a function of the reducing agents. The same techniques will be applied to investigate the kinetic of consumption of Pd-hydrides and the structural changes in the Pd NPs during the selective hydrogenation of para-chloro-nitrobenzene as probe reaction in the presence of different solvents. This proposal is part of the work of a PhD student sponsored by ESRF and PSI. The measurements performed at ID15A will be complemented by ATR-IR and XAS measurements performed adopting the same experimental set-up.