Universal mathematical relations between the mean relative size of
metallic crystallites (d
rel(VS))
and
their dispersion (FE) in supported metal catalysts have been developed.
The relations are: d
rel(VS)
=
5.01/FE for FE < 0.2, and d
rel(VS) =
3.32/FE1.23 for 0.2 ≤ FE ≤ 0.92, where
d
rel(VS)
=
d
VS/d
at,
(d
VS) is the
volume-surface mean diameter of an assembly of particles of different
sizes, and d
at is the atomic
diameter
of a given metal. It is shown that for FE > 0.2 the commonly used
definition of d
VS should be
modified.
The developed relations apply well to various thermodynamically
probable crystallite shapes including
fcc cubooctahedra of varying geometry, icosahedra,
surface-reconstructed cubooctahedra, bcc rhombic
dodecahedra, and hcp truncated bipyramids. The new relations are
more precise than the commonly used
equation d
VS = a/FE, where
a is a constant specific to a given metal.
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