ATOMIC-SCALE INSIGHT INTO DEEP HYDRODESULFURIZATION PATHWAYS ON MoS2 AND Co-Mo-S HYDROTREATING CATALYSTS

摘要

The scanning tunneling microscope (STM) has over the last two decades been phenomenally successful in resolving the real-space, atomic-scale structure of the surfaces and supported nanostructures. A distinct advantage of the STM for catalysis studies is the capability to image single, adsorbed molecules while they interact with the catalytically active nanoclusters. This opens the opportunity to experimentally pinpoint and characterize the atomic-scale nature of the catalytically active sites, and in particular address the questions related to size- and morphology-dependent catalytic properties, i.e. the observation that certain cluster sizes or certain defect sites on nanoclusters may be more active.