In situ reaction studies of catalyst materials using closed-cell environmental specimen holders have been shown to allow atomic resolution to be obtained on e.g. catalyst materials, at elevated temperatures and pressures [1-4]. These holders incorporate MEMS-based devices into the holder tip, which serve to encapsulate a gas layer between a thin film heater device and an ultra-thin amorphous Si...

Layer-structured group III chalcogenides have highly anisotropic properties and are attractive materials for stable photocathodes and battery electrodes. We report the controlled synthesis and characterization of layer-structured GaSe nanowires via a catalyst-assisted vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth mechanism during GaSe powder evaporation. GaSe nanowires consist of Se-Ga-Ga-Se layers stacked t...

X-ray diffraction techniques have been applied to characterize the Au-catalysed growth of aligned ZnO nanowire arrays on an AlGaN/AlN/Al2O3 substrate. The orientation relationships between the AlN layer, AlGaN layer, ZnO nanowires and Au particles were determined using x-ray texture analysis. Two orientations of the Au nanoparticles, related by a 30◦ rotation about the sample normal, were obser...

A multilayer film of (Pd(2+)/)10 was simply fabricated by Pd(ii) and 2-Br-2',7,7'-tri(4-pyridyl)-9,9'-spirobifluorene (, Br-tpsf) through a layer-by-layer self-assembly method. The film loaded on a quartz slide as a catalyst reservoir could gradually release high active catalytic species to promote Sonogashira, Heck and Suzuki cross-coupling reactions, with extremely low Pd-loading of 11.0 × 10...

In this study, we used quantum mechanics (QM) to investigate steam reforming of methane on Ni-alloy catalyst surfaces and to examine the effect of anode material modifications on the catalytic processes in a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). The conventional Ni anode suffers from coking, coarsening, and sulfur poisoning because of the decomposition of hydrocarbon fuels, Ni particle agglomeration at...

1 H and 19 F spin lattice relaxation rates of catalyst layer materials (CLM) of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells were measured by the fast field cycling (FFC) method. In contrast to ionomer membranes, 1 H relaxation rates of adsorbed water in both platinumKetjen black (Pt-KB) catalyst powder and CLM were strongly dependent on Larmor frequency approximated by a power law due to the strong...

Surfaces containing reactive ester polymer brushes were functionalized with cyclopropenone-masked dibenzocyclooctynes for the light activated immobilization of azides using catalyst-free click chemistry. The photodecarbonylation reaction in the amorphous brush layer is first order for the first 45 s with a rate constant of 0.022 s(-1). The catalyst-free cycloaddition of surface bound dibeznocyc...

We herein describe a straight forward procedure to increase the performance of platinum-on-alumina catalysts in methanol steam reforming by applying an alkali hydroxide coating according to the "solid catalyst with ionic liquid layer" (SCILL) approach. We demonstrate by diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) and temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) studies that ...

Carbon-coated TiO2 catalysts were found to have high photocatalytic activity for photodecomposition of methylene blue in water, higher than TiO2 without carbon coating [1]. However, these catalysts used for phenol decomposition showed lower activity than TiO2 without carbon coating. Also lower adsorption capacity of phenol on carbon-coated TiO2 catalysts was noted by comparison with adsorption ...