In-situ TEM metal vaporization from Pt/Pd/Al2O3 under high temperature redox

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and BASF Corporation have studied Al2O3 supported Pt/Pd bimetallic catalysts at high temperatures in an atmospheric gas environment using the Hummingbird Scientific Gas Cell TEM holder system. The work published in the journal, Nanoscale,  reports unusual metal vaporization upon heating the catalyst materials at above 600°C in pure oxygen and air (See Figure below).

In-situ TEM gas cell heating of Pt/Pd particles on Al2O3 support at 1 atm O2 shows rapid metal vaporization as the temperature reaches over 700°C. Copyright © Royal Society of Chemistry 2021.

The act of vaporization which is possible to observe only under in-situ conditions demonstrates preferential vaporization of Pt and diffusion of Pt/Pd through surface or bulk regions, playing a key role in catalytic structural evolution.

Reference: Andrew Chengsi Meng, Ke-Bin Low, Alexandre Foucher, Yuejin Li, Ivan Petrovic, and Eric A Stach. ” Anomalous Metal Vaporization from Pt/Pd/Al2O3 under Redox Conditions,” Nanoscale (2021). Full Paper


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