Surface Chemistry and Catalysis

Abstract

BackgroundNowadays, heterogeneous catalysis plays a prominent role. The majority of industrial chemical processes, involving the manufacturing of commodity chemicals, pharmaceuticals, clean fuels, etc., as well as pollution abatement technologies, have a common catalytic origin. As catalysis proceeds at the surface, it is of paramount importance to gain insight into the fundamental understanding of local surface chemistry, which in turn governs the catalytic performance. The deep understanding at the atomic level of a catalyst surface could pave the way towards the design of novel catalytic systems for real-life energy and environmental applications.Thanks to surface science we can obtain profound insight into the structure of a surface, the chemical state of active sites, the interfacial reactivity, the way molecules bind and react, the role of surface defects and imperfections (e.g., surface oxygen vacancies), and the mode of action of various surface promoters/poisons. To elucidate the aforementioned surface phenomena, sophisticated techniques in combination with theoretical studies are necessary to reveal the composition and the structure/morphology of the surface as well as the chemical entity of adsorbed species. Moreover, time-resolved methods are required to investigate the dynamic phenomena occurring at the surface, such as adsorption/desorption, diffusion and chemical reactions. Under this perspective, it was clearly revealed, based on the recently published review articles by the Guest Editor, that the complete elucidation of a catalytic phenomenon (e.g., metal-support interactions [1]) or the fundamental understanding of a specific catalytic process (e.g., N 2 O decomposition [2]) requires a holistic approach involving the combination of advanced ex situ experimental and theoretical studies with in situ operando studies. This Special IssueIn light of the above aspects, the present themed issue aims to cover the recent advances in "surface chemistry and catalysis" that can be obtained by means of advanced characterization techniques, computational calculations and time-resolved methods, with particular emphasis on the structure-activity relationships (SARs). It consists of 14 high-quality papers, involving: a comprehensive review article on the surface analysis techniques that can be employed to elucidate the phenomenon of electrochemical promotion in catalysis [3]; two theoretical studies (Density Functional Theory, DFT) on H 2 O dissociation and its implications in catalysis [4,5]; two mechanistic studies by means of temperature-programmed desorption/surface reaction (TPD/TPSR) and/or operando spectroscopy on N 2 O formation over NO x storage-reduction (NSR) catalysts [6] and on methanol reforming over cobalt catalysts [7]; two articles on H 2 production by the steam reforming of ethanol [8] or diesel [9] over transition metal-based catalysts; two articles on the production of commercial fuels by Fisher-Tropsch synthesis [10,11]; two articles on Au-catalyzed CO oxidation [12] and preferential CO oxi...

Syngas production by dry reforming of the mixture of glycerol and ethanol with CaCO3

“…Although Ni is generally considered susceptible for coking, its selectivity toward C 2 H 6 and C 2 H 4 , typical precursors of polymerized condensates [39] , was the lowest, suggesting the resistance against coking. The performance of Co-CaCO 3 was close to that of Ni due to the similar catalytic reforming performances of Ni and Co [40] , while Fe and Cu were inappropriate for the CDR reaction. For the noble metals, Pd slightly outperformed Ni in terms of conversion and syngas selectivity, while Pt, Ru, and Rh were less active than Ni was.…”

Rational Design of Non-Precious Metal Oxide Catalysts by Means of Advanced Synthetic and Promotional Routes

“…Although, noble metals (NMs)-based catalysts are traditionally employed in various processes, due to their peculiar characteristics and enhanced reactivity, their scarcity and consequently high cost renders them disincentive for practical applications. In this perspective, the rational design and development of earth-abundant NMs-free metal oxides of adequate activity, selectivity and durability constitutes one of the main research pillars in heterogeneous catalysis [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Towards this direction, however, one crucial question must be answered: Is it possible to fine-tune the local surface chemistry/structure of a single, binary or multicomponent metal oxide in order to be highly efficient-like NMs-in a specific process?…”