Magnetic Resonance Reveals Fundamentals of Interactions and Reactivity in Catalysts

 

Scientific Achievement

Demonstrated the ability to follow reactions in-situ, determine impact of water on catalyst reactivity, and assess fundamental interaction strength between water and active sites versus self-diffusion, as function of water content in system

Significance and Impact

An in-situ solids NMR experimental approach coupled with diffusion NMR can provide necessary molecular-level information on transport and reactivity to complement bulk reactor studies, thus revealing how water influences important mechanisms for biomass conversion

Research Details

• A new 9.0 Tesla solids, diffusion, and microimaging system was installed in November 2014 to help support CIRE research
• Published in-situ NMR work (ACS Catalysis) shows that water addition can both increase and decrease reaction rates in zeolites
• Interaction strength for water in as-synthesized versus hydrophobically-modified zeolites has been measured
• Experiments underway to probe how water inhibits or promotes conversions of oxygenates in modified zeolites

 

 

Figure: Schematic depicting NMR’s impact on multiple fronts of CIRE project including adsorption, diffusion, and reactivity.

(Click for large figure)