IN SITU, REAL-TIME, SPATIALLY RESOLVED, 3D AND TOTAL-REFLECTION XAFS FOR THE RATIONAL DESIGN AND CHARACTERIZATION OF SURFACES AND PROPERTIES OF WELL-DEFINED AND NANOPARTICLE CATALYSTS

摘要

Tremendous catalysis and functions of oxide surfaces and nanoparticles may be coupled with the transformation and spatial distribution of structures and electronic states of active sites and ensembles. New strategy and concept lead to tailor-made catalyst design for green sustainable processes, where in situ (operando) characterization of the surfaces and nanoparticles are inevitably important for understanding the origin and mechanism of the dynamic catalysis and developing new catalytic materials by rational guidelines. While it has been recognized that the design of active structures and functions based on in situ characterization is critical in achieving high catalytic performances with good selectivity, these issues have not been adequately addressed in the molecular scale and are still a serious challenge in catalysis and materials research. Oxide surfaces and nanoparticles have successfully been characterized by in situ XAFS, real-time XAFS, spatially resolved XAFS, 3D laminography-XAFS, total-reflection XAFS, etc., which can provide new pieces of information on those issues. We constructed a new XAFS beamline BL36XU at SPring-8 under a NEDO program for the structural and electronic analysis of dynamic and spatial events on fuel-cell catalysts and related catalytic materials.