In Situ X-ray Absorption Fine Structure Studies on the Effect of pH on Pt Electronic Density during Aqueous Phase Reforming of Glycerol
Abstract not provided
Karim, Ayman M↗
Engineering topics
Karim, Ayman M
Publications and source records attributed to Karim, Ayman M.
Correlating ethylene glycol reforming activity with in-situ EXAFS detection of Ni segregation in supported NiPt bimetallic catalysts
The structural changes in supported NiPt/C and NiPt/γ-Al2O3 catalysts were investigated using in-situ extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) under aqueous phase reforming (APR) of ethylene glycol conditions. Reverse Monte Carlo is introduced to analyze the EXAFS data. Parallel reactor studies of APR of ethylene glycol showed that NiPt catalysts were initially more active than monometallic Pt catalysts. The enhanced activity was correlated to changes in the catalyst structure. Under APR conditions, Ni segregated to the surface of the catalysts, resembling Ni-terminated bimetallic surfaces that were predicted to be more active than Pt from theoretical and experimental studies on model surfaces.
Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory↗
Environmental Transmission Electron Microscopy Study of the Origins of Anomalous Particle Size Distributions in Supported Metal Catalysts
In this Environmental TEM (ETEM) study of supported Pt and Pd model catalysts, individual nanoparticles were tracked during heat treatments at temperatures up to 600°C in H2, O2, and vacuum. We found anomalous growth of nanoparticles occurred during the early stages of catalyst sintering wherein some particles started to grow significantly larger than the mean, resulting in a broadening of the particle size distribution. We can rule out sample non-uniformity as a cause for the growth of these large particles, since images were recorded prior to heat treatments. The anomalous growth of these particles may help explain particle size distributions in heterogeneous catalysts which often show particles that are significantly larger than the mean, resulting in a long tail to the right. It has been suggested that particle migration and coalescence could be the likely cause for the broad size distributions. This study shows that anomalous growth of nanoparticles can occur under conditions where Ostwald ripening is the primary sintering mechanism.
anomalous growth↗
On the Reaction Mechanism of Acetaldehyde Decomposition on Mo(110)
The strong Mo-O bond strength provides promising reactivity of Mo-based catalysts for the deoxygenation of biomass-derived oxygenates. Combining the novel dimer saddle point searching method with periodic spin-polarized density functional theory calculations, we investigated the reaction pathways of a acetaldehyde decomposition on the clean Mo(110) surface. Two reaction pathways were identified, a selective deoxygenation and a nonselective fragmentation pathways. We found that acetaldehyde preferentially adsorbs at the pseudo 3-fold hollow site in the η2(C,O) configuration on Mo(110). Among four possible bond (β-C-H, γ-C-H, C-O and C-C) cleavages, the initial decomposition of the adsorbed acetaldehyde produces either ethylidene via the C-O bond scission or acetyl via the β-C-H bond scission while the C-C and the γ-C-H bond cleavages of acetaldehyde leading to the formation of methyl (and formyl) and formylmethyl are unlikely. Further dehydrogenations of ethylidene into either ethylidyne or vinyl are competing and very facile with low activation barriers of 0.24 and 0.31 eV, respectively. Concurrently, the formed acetyl would deoxygenate into ethylidyne via the C-O cleavage rather than breaking the C-C or the C-H bonds. The selective deoxygenation of acetaldehyde forming ethylene is inhibited by relatively weaker hydrogenation capability of the Mo(110) surface. Instead, the nonselective pathway via vinyl and vinylidene dehydrogenations to ethynyl as the final hydrocarbon fragment is kinetically favorable. On the other hand, the strong interaction between ethylene and the Mo(110) surface also leads to ethylene decomposition instead of desorption into the gas phase. This work was financially supported by the National Advanced Biofuels Consortium (NABC). Computing time was granted by a user project (emsl42292) at the Molecular Science Computing Facility in the William R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL). This work was financially supported by the National Advanced Biofuels Consortium (NABC). Computing time was granted by a user project (emsl42292) at the Molecular Science Computing Facility in the William R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL). The EMSL is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national scientific user facility located at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and supported by the DOE Office of Biological and Environmental Research. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is operated by Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy.
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
Correlation of Pt-Re Surface Properties with Reaction Pathways for the Aqueous-Phase Reforming of Glycerol
The surface properties of Pt-Re catalytic nano-particles supported on carbon following exposure to a hydrogen reducing environment and subsequent hydrothermal conditions have been studied using in-situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and ammonia temperature programmed desorption (TPD). These properties have been correlated with the catalyst selectivity for the aqueous phase reforming of glycerol. We show that Pt in reduced Pt-Re/C becomes electron deficient, and a fraction of the Re becomes oxidized when the catalyst is subsequently exposed to hydrothermal reaction conditions. Oxidation of Pt-Re generates surface acidity, which drastically affects the reaction pathways. The acid site concentration, but not acid site strength, increases with Re loading. This acidity increase with Re addition favors C-O over C-C cleavage, which results in higher selectivity to liquid products and alkanes at the expense of hydrogen production. We propose a model for the Pt-Re active site and the origin of acidity enhanced by the addition of Re.
08 HYDROGEN↗
The Effect of Zn Addition on the Oxidation State of Cobalt in Co/ZrO2 Catalysts
The effect of Zn promotion on the activity and selectivity of Co/ZrO{sub 2} catalysts for ethanol steam reforming was investigated. The catalysts were synthesized by incipient wetness impregnation and characterized using BET measurements, temperature programmed reduction, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray electron spectroscopy. Compared to Co/ZrO{sub 2} catalyst, a higher ethanol conversion and a lower CH{sub 4} selectivity were observed for the Co/ZrO{sub 2} catalyst promoted with Zn. It was found that addition of Zn inhibits the oxidation of metallic cobalt (Co{sup 0}) particles, which results in a higher ratio of Co{sup 0}/Co{sup 2+} present in the Zn promoted Co/ZrO{sub 2} catalyst. These results suggest that metallic cobalt (Co{sup 0}) is responsible for ethanol conversion via ethanol dehydrogenation whereas Co{sup 2+} plays a role in the CH{sub 4} formation. For both catalysts, the experimental results show that CH4 is mainly produced via CO and/or CO{sub 2} methanation. TPR measurements, on the other hand, show Zn addition inhibits the reduction of Co{sup 2+} and Co{sup 3+}, which would mislead the conclusion that oxidized Co is required to reduce the CH{sub 4} formation. Therefore, TPR may not be appropriate to correlate the degree of metal reducibility (in this case Co{sup 0}) with the catalyst activity for reactions such as ethanol steam reforming where oxidizing conditions exist.
10 SYNTHETIC FUELS↗
Syngas Conditioning
A brief review of water gas shift (WGS) catalysis is provided. An overview of the four general classes of WGS catalysts is presented, which include: 1) high temperature shift (HTS), 2) low temperature shift (LTS), 3) sulfur-tolerant shift catalysts, and 4) precious metal-based shift catalysts. A review of WGS utilizing monoliths or other reactor technologies that pertain to fuel cell applications, an area of increasing interest over the past several years, is also presented. Ratnasamy and Wagner have recently provided an outstanding and comprehensive review of WGS catalysis. A particular emphasis of that work is “catalyst surface structures, active sites, reaction intermediates, and mechanisms”, particularly for noble metal-based catalysts1. The summary provided here is a succinct review of water gas shift catalysis and reactors, with an emphasis on fuel processing applications for fuel cells, and is not intended to provide a comprehensive review of WGS technology.
08 HYDROGEN↗
Density functional theory study of acetaldehyde hydrodeoxygenation on MoO3
Periodic spin-polarized density functional theory calculations were performed to investigate acetaldehyde (CH3CHO) hydrodeoxygenation on the reduced molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) surface. The perfect O-terminated α-MoO3(010) surface is reduced to generate an oxygen defect site in the presence of H2. H2 dissociatively adsorbs at the surface oxygen sites forming two surface hydroxyls, which can recombine into a water molecule weakly bound at the Mo site. A terminal oxygen (Ot) defect site thus forms after water desorption. CH3CHO adsorbs at the O-deficient Mo site via either the sole O-Mo bond or the O-Mo and the C-O double bonds. The possible reaction pathways of the adsorbed CH3CHO with these two configurations were thoroughly examined using the dimer searching method. Our results show that the ideal deoxygenation of CH3CHO leading to ethylene (C2H4) on the reduced MoO3(010) surface is feasible. The adsorbed CH3CHO first dehydrogenate into CH2CHO by reacting with a neighboring terminal Ot. The hydroxyl (OtH) then hydrogenates CH2CHO into CH2CH2O to complete the hydrogen transfer cycle with an activation barrier of 1.39 eV. The direct hydrogen transfer from CH3CHO to CH2CH2O is unlikely due to the high barrier of 2.00 eV. The produced CH2CH2O readily decomposes into C2H4 that directly releases to the gas phase, and regenerates the Ot atom on the Mo site. As a result, the reduced MoO3(010) surface is reoxidized to the perfect MoO3(010) surface after CH3CHO deoxygenation. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is operated by Battelle for the US Department of Energy.
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗