Nanoscale Chemical Imaging of the Reduction Behavior of a Single Catalyst Particle

A closer look: Investigation of the reduction properties of a single Fischer-Tropsch catalyst particle, using in situ scanning transmission X-ray microscopy with spatial resolution of 35 nm, reveals a heterogeneous distribution of Fe0, Fe2+, and Fe3+ species. Regions of different reduction properties are defined and explained on the basis of local chemical interactions and catalyst morpholog

Nanoscale Chemical Imaging of the Reduction Behavior of a Single Catalyst Particle

A closer look: Investigation of the reduction properties of a single Fischer-Tropsch catalyst particle, using in situ scanning transmission X-ray microscopy with spatial resolution of 35 nm, reveals a heterogeneous distribution of Fe0, Fe2+, and Fe3+ species. Regions of different reduction properties are defined and explained on the basis of local chemical interactions and catalyst morpholog

Micro-fabricated channel with ultra-thin yet ultra-strong windows enables electron microscopy under 4-bar pressure

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of (de-)hydrogenation reactions is crucial to characterize efficiency of hydrogen storage materials. The nanoreactor, a micromachined channel with 15-nm-thick windows, effectively confines the gas flow to an electron-transparent chamber during TEM of reactions. Realistic experiments require very high pressures to be sustained by the device. Nanomechanical bulge tests and simulations show that due to a very strong size effect, ultra-thin device components can reliably withstand tensile stresses as high as 19.5?GPa enabling high pressure operation. We use the device to characterize Pd particles under a 4-bar H2 pressure within the ultra-high-vacuum of the TEM.Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Scienc