PSI researchers have developed a new tomography method with which they can measure chemical properties inside catalyst materials in 3-D extremely precisely and faster than before. The application is equally important for science and industry. The researchers published their results today in the journal Science Advances.
The material group of vanadium phosphorus oxides (VPOs) is widely used as a catalyst in the chemical industry. VPOs have been used in the production of maleic anhydride since the 1970s. Maleic anhydride in turn is the starting material for the production of various plastics, increasingly including biodegradable ones. In industry, the catalytic materials are typically used for several years, because they play an important role in the chemical reactions but are not consumed in the process. Nevertheless, a VPO catalyst changes over time as a result of this use.
In a collaborative effort, scientists from two research divisions at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI – the Photon Science Division and the Energy and Environment Division – together with researchers at ETH Zurich and the Swiss company Clariant AG, have now investigated in detail the ageing process of VPO catalysts. In the course of their research, they also developed a new experimental method.
Read more in the PSI website
Image: Zirui Gao, a researcher at PSI, has developed a new algorithm for experimental studies that significantly shortens the duration of certain imaging measurements that would otherwise take too long. The researchers used it to investigate ageing processes in a much-used catalyst material on the nanoscale.
Credit: Paul Scherrer Institute/Markus Fischer
