Project Title: In Situ Structural Catalyst Characterization
Group: Catalysis and Operando Characterization
Supervisor: Christian Danvad Damsgaard
Project description
Synthesis of CO2 neutral fuels is a vital tool in the fight against climate change. This study is one of many working to progress the search of such a fuel as part of V‐sustain. Today potential future CO2 neutral fuels, such as methanol and methane are produced at an industrial scale for other purposes. These are synthesized at high pressure (30‐50bar) and high temperatures (230‐250C) from CO2, CO and H2, by use of a catalytic process. If a similar synthesis of methanol or methane was possible at lower pressure and lower temperature it would allow for these chemicals to be used as CO2 neutral fuels.
In the search of a catalyst that would allow for this process it is vital to understand the current industrial process. This study focuses on understanding several catalytic reactions with the use of In situ transmission electron microscopy(TEM) that allows for atomic resolution imaging of a catalytic process under reaction conditions. In this study copper nanoparticles supported on metal‐oxides (eg. ZnO, MgO, SiO2, Al2O3 and MgAl2O4 etc.) will be investigated both ex situ and in situ by TEM complimented by x‐ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and x‐ray diffraction (XRD).