Application of Ambient‐Pressure X‐ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy for the In‐situ Investigation of Heterogeneous Catalytic Reactions

Abstract

Heterogeneous chemical reactions at vapor/solid interfaces play an important role in many processes in the environment and technology. Ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (APXPS) is a valuable tool to investigate the elemental composition and chemical specificity of surfaces and adsorbates on the molecular scale at pressures of up to 130 mbar. In this review we summarize the historical development of APXPS since its introduction over forty years ago, discuss different approaches to minimize scattering of electrons by gas molecules, and give a comprehensive overview about the experimental systems (vapor/solid interfaces) that have been studied so far. We also present several examples for the application of APXPS to environmental science, heterogeneous catalysis, and electrochemistry.

Ceria-Based Catalysts Studied by Near Ambient Pressure X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy: A Review

“…The application of NAP-XPS in heterogeneous catalysis has opened new possibilities and a large number of reviews and book chapters have appeared in the last years [50,[52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65]. NAP-XPS has been used within this field to study from single crystals and model metal-oxide systems [35,55,58,60,66] to more realistic mono-and bimetallic unsupported nanocatalysts and metal-oxide complex systems [57].…”

Investigation of solid/vapor interfaces using ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

“…For a more detailed discussion the reader is pointed to recent review papers on the subject. [37][38][39][40][41][42] (A) Differential pumping…”

Ambient pressure photoelectron spectroscopy: Practical considerations and experimental frontiers

“…It is easy to understand why this is the case, given the numerous relevant applications, in catalysis, corrosion, filtration, energy materials, and atmospheric science, [26,[38][39][40][41] as well as the generally relative simplicity of the preparation and measurement of solid/vapor interfaces compared to, e.g., measurements of liquid interfaces. In particular, there has been great interest and success in recent years in applying APXPS to the study of "real" and "model" catalytic systems [31,42,43] and electrochemical devices [34,39,44]. For brevity's sake, we will focus here on selected specific examples which highlight the strengths and limitations of the APXPS technique as it relates to the study these of solid/vapor interfaces.…”