Malte Behrens

The Active Site of Methanol Synthesis over Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 Industrial Catalysts

Mechanisms in Methanol Catalysis The industrial production of methanol from hydrogen and carbon monoxide depends on the use of copper and zinc oxide nanoparticles on alumina oxide supports. This catalyst is “structure sensitive”; its activity can vary by orders of magnitude, depending on how it is prepared. Behrens et al. (p. 893, published online 19 April; see the Perspective by Greeley) used a combination of bulk and surface-sensitive analysis and imaging methods—along with insights from density functional theory calculations—to study several catalysts, including the one similar to that used industrially. High activity depended on the presence of steps on the copper nanoparticles stabilized by defects such as stacking faults. Partial coverage of the copper nanoparticles with zinc oxide was critical for stabilizing surface intermediates such as HCO and lowering energetic barriers to the methanol product. Catalysis is favored by stepped copper nanoparticles decorated with zinc oxide, which promotes stronger intermediate binding. One of the main stumbling blocks in developing rational design strategies for heterogeneous catalysis is that the complexity of the catalysts impairs efforts to characterize their active sites. We show how to identify the crucial atomic structure motif for the industrial Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 methanol synthesis catalyst by using a combination of experimental evidence from bulk, surface-sensitive, and imaging methods collected on real high-performance catalytic systems in combination with density functional theory calculations. The active site consists of Cu steps decorated with Zn atoms, all stabilized by a series of well-defined bulk defects and surface species that need to be present jointly for the system to work.

Pd−Ga Intermetallic Compounds as Highly Selective Semihydrogenation Catalysts

The intermetallic compounds Pd(3)Ga(7), PdGa, and Pd(2)Ga are found to be highly selective semihydrogenation catalysts for acetylene outperforming established systems. The stability of the crystal and electronic structure under reaction conditions allows the direct relation of structural and catalytic properties and a knowledge-based development of new intermetallic catalyst systems. In the crystal structure of PdGa palladium is exclusively surrounded by gallium atoms. The alteration of the Pd coordination in PdGa leads to a strong modification of the electronic structure around the Fermi level in comparison to elemental Pd. Electronic modification and isolation of active sites causes the excellent catalytic semihydrogenation properties.

How to Control the Selectivity of Palladium-based Catalysts in Hydrogenation Reactions: The Role of Subsurface Chemistry

Discussed are the recent experimental and theoretical results on palladium‐based catalysts for selective hydrogenation of alkynes obtained by a number of collaborating groups in a joint multi‐method and multi‐material approach. The critical modification of catalytically active Pd surfaces by incorporation of foreign species X into the sub‐surface of Pd metal was observed by in situ spectroscopy for X=H, C under hydrogenation conditions. Under certain conditions (low H2 partial pressure) alkyne fragmentation leads to formation of a PdC surface phase in the reactant gas feed. The insertion of C as a modifier species in the sub‐surface increases considerably the selectivity of alkyne semi‐hydrogenation over Pd‐based catalysts through the decoupling of bulk hydrogen from the outmost active surface layer. DFT calculations confirm that PdC hinders the diffusion of hydridic hydrogen. Its formation is dependent on the chemical potential of carbon (reactant partial pressure) and is suppressed when the hydrogen/alkyne pressure ratio is high, which leads to rather unselective hydrogenation over in situ formed bulk PdH. The beneficial effect of the modifier species X on the selectivity, however, is also present in intermetallic compounds with X=Ga. As a great advantage, such PdxGay catalysts show extended stability under in situ conditions. Metallurgical, clean samples were used to determine the intrinsic catalytic properties of PdGa and Pd3Ga7. For high performance catalysts, supported nanostructured intermetallic compounds are more preferable and partial reduction of Ga2O3, upon heating of Pd/Ga2O3 in hydrogen, was shown to lead to formation of PdGa intermetallic compounds at moderate temperatures. In this way, Pd5Ga2 and Pd2Ga are accessible in the form of supported nanoparticles, in thin film models, and realistic powder samples, respectively.

The Mechanism of CO and CO2 Hydrogenation to Methanol over Cu-Based Catalysts

Methanol, an important chemical, fuel additive, and precursor for clean fuels, is produced by hydrogenation of carbon oxides over Cu‐based catalysts. Despite the technological maturity of this process, the understanding of this apparently simple reaction is still incomplete with regard to the reaction mechanism and the active sites. Regarding the latter, recent progress has shown that stepped and ZnOx‐decorated Cu surfaces are crucial for the performance of industrial catalysts. Herein, we integrate this insight with additional experiments into a full microkinetic description of methanol synthesis. In particular, we show how the presence or absence of the Zn promoter dramatically changes not only the activity, but unexpectedly the reaction mechanism itself. The Janus‐faced character of Cu with two different sites for methanol synthesis, Zn‐promoted and unpromoted, resolves the long‐standing controversy regarding the Cu/Zn synergy and adds methanol synthesis to the few major industrial catalytic processes that are described on an atomic level.

Nanostructured Manganese Oxide Supported on Carbon Nanotubes for Electrocatalytic Water Splitting

Incipient wetness impregnation and a novel deposition symproportionation precipitation were used for the preparation of MnOx/CNT electrocatalysts for efficient water splitting. Nanostructured manganese oxides have been dispersed on commercial carbon nanotubes as a result of both preparation methods. A strong influence of the preparation history on the electrocatalytic performance was observed. The as‐prepared state of a 6.5 wt. % MnOx/CNT sample could be comprehensively characterized by comparison to an unsupported MnOx reference sample. Various characterization techniques revealed distinct differences in the oxidation state of the Mn centers in the as‐prepared samples as a result of the two different preparation methods. As expected, the oxidation state is higher and near +4 for the symproportionated MnOx compared to the impregnated sample, where +2 was found. In both cases an easy adjustability of the oxidation state of Mn by post‐treatment of the catalysts was observed as a function of oxygen partial pressure and temperature. Similar adjustments of the oxidation state are also expected to happen under water splitting conditions. In particular, the 5 wt. % MnO/CNT sample obtained by conventional impregnation was identified as a promising catalytic anode material for water electrolysis at neutral pH showing high activity and stability. Importantly, this catalytic material is comparable to state‐of‐art MnOx catalyst operating in strongly alkaline solutions and, therefore, offers advantages for hydrogen production from waste and sea water under neutral, hence, environmentally benign conditions.

Performance Improvement of Nanocatalysts by Promoter-Induced Defects in the Support Material : Methanol Synthesis over Cu/ZnO:Al

Addition of small amounts of promoters to solid catalysts can cause pronounced improvement in the catalytic properties. For the complex catalysts employed in industrial processes, the fate and mode of operation of promoters is often not well understood, which hinders a more rational optimization of these important materials. Herein we show for the example of the industrial Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst for methanol synthesis how structure-performance relationships can deliver such insights and shed light on the role of the Al promoter in this system. We were able to discriminate a structural effect and an electronic promoting effect, identify the relevant Al species as a dopant in ZnO, and determine the optimal Al content of improved Cu/ZnO:Al catalysts. By analogy to Ga- and Cr-promoted samples, we conclude that there is a general effect of promoter-induced defects in ZnO on the metal-support interactions and propose the relevance of this promotion mechanism for other metal/oxide catalysts also.

The Intermetallic Compound ZnPd and its Role in Methanol Steam Reforming

The rich literature about the intermetallic compound ZnPd as well as several ZnPd near-surface intermetallic phases is reviewed. ZnPd is frequently observed in different catalytic reactions triggering this review in order to collect the knowledge about the compound. The review addresses the chemical and physical properties of the compound and relates these comprehensively to the catalytic properties of ZnPd in methanol steam reforming—an interesting reaction to release hydrogen for a future hydrogen-based energy infrastructure from water/methanol mixtures. The broad scope of the review covers experimental work as well as quantum chemical calculations on a variety of Pd-Zn materials, aiming at covering all relevant literature to derive a sound state-of-the-art picture of the understanding gained so far.

The Haber–Bosch Process Revisited: On the Real Structure and Stability of “Ammonia Iron” under Working Conditions†

Ammonia synthesis is one of the largest processes in chemical industries. It was first operated at BASF one hundred years ago based on the fundamental work of Fritz Haber and process engineering by Carl Bosch. Haber combined feed gas recycling with application of high pressure (P = 200 bar) and a Ruthenium catalyst to achieve sufficiently high conversions of nitrogen according to N2 + 3 H2 .2 NH3. This success enabled the large scale production of artificial fertilizers, which was a prerequisite to face the world’s increase in population and is known as the “extraction of air from bread” – a term that was coined later by Max von Laue. Today, contrary to the generation of syngas for ammonia, only little has changed in the industrial process for the actual synthesis of ammonia.The process is operated at typical temperatures of 500 °C and pressures around 200 bar, resulting in ammonia concentrations in the exhaust gas of up to 17 vol.%. Approximately 80% of the worldwide ammonia output of 136 Mtons (2011) is used for the production of fertilizers. A key development for the modern Haber-Bosch process, however, has been the catalyst development at BASF that was led by Alwin Mittasch in the early 20 century. After testing 22 000 different formulations in a gigantic effort, the work was concluded in 1922 with the identification of a very unique catalyst synthesis. To achieve a highly active iron catalyst, magnetite, Fe3O4, was promoted by fusing it together with irreducible oxides (K2O, Al2O3, later also CaO) in an oxide melt at temperatures around 1000 °C. The fused magnetite is mechanically granulated and its reduction need to be conducted with great care in the syngas feed to finally give the active α-Fe catalyst. This special synthesis leads to certain crucial properties of the resulting α-Fe phase, which is commonly termed “ammonia iron”. In addition to its outstanding economic relevance, ammonia synthesis acts as a “drosophila reaction” for catalysis research and has always been a test case for the maturity of catalysis science in the context of a technologically mature application. Today, due to the enormous efforts in surface science, physical and theoretical chemistry, and chemical engineering a consistent picture of the reaction mechanism and the role of the Fe catalyst and its promoters has emerged. Key contributions to the modern understanding of the ammonia synthesis reactions came from the teams lead by Gerhard Ertl, Michel Boudart, Gabor Somorjai, Haldor Topsoe and Jens K. Norskov, just to mention a few. However, even after 100 years of application and research there still is scientific interest in the Haber-Bosch process, mainly because of two aspects. Firstly, catalysts with improved lowtemperature activity, higher specific surface area and higher tolerance against poisons and on-off operations are generally desirable. Also the development of a more elegant synthesis route for the Fe-based catalyst without the melting step and the extremely critical activation procedure could foster the potential application of ammonia as an energy storage molecule. Secondly, there still is a gap between the model studies conducted with well-defined simplified materials with clean surfaces at low pressures to elaborate the current knowledge of ammonia synthesis and the industrial process. These so-called pressure and materials gaps often prevent straightforward extrapolation of model studies to real industrial processes. Thus, the question of a dynamical change of the catalyst under true reaction conditions remains to be studied and calls for in situ experimentation. This point requires special attention in case of the ammonia synthesis over iron catalysts, because it is well known and has been studied for decades in the context of steel hardening and catalytic ammonia decomposition that iron can be easily nitrided by ammonia. Ertl and co-workers described the reaction mechanism of ammonia synthesis. 14] He and other authors showed that the reaction is structure sensitive. The dissociative chemisorption of di-nitrogen on the iron surface is the rate limiting step in ammonia synthesis and opens possibilities for sub-surface diffusion of the atomic nitrogen. Ertl et al. proposed the surface dissolution of nitrogen into iron forming a surface nitride of the approximate composition Fe2N and the presence of in-situ formed metastable γFe4N. [6a] Thus, for experimental conditions remote from the HaberBosch process, participation of stoichiometric bulk nitrides like FeN has been excluded. Instead, Herzog et al. proposed formation of [∗] Timur Kandemir, Dr. Manfred.E. Schuster, Dr. Malte Behrens, Prof. Dr. Robert Schlogl Department of Inorganic Chemistry Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft Faradayweg 4-6, D-14195 Berlin, Germany Fax: (+)49-(0)30-8413-4401 E-mail: behrens@fhi-berlin.mpg.de, acsek@fhi-berlin.mpg.de

Counting of Oxygen Defects versus Metal Surface Sites in Methanol Synthesis Catalysts by Different Probe Molecules

Different surface sites of solid catalysts are usually quantified by dedicated chemisorption techniques from the adsorption capacity of probe molecules, assuming they specifically react with unique sites. In case of methanol synthesis catalysts, the Cu surface area is one of the crucial parameters in catalyst design and was for over 25 years commonly determined using diluted N2O. To disentangle the influence of the catalyst components, different model catalysts were prepared and characterized using N2O, temperature programmed desorption of H2, and kinetic experiments. The presence of ZnO dramatically influences the N2O measurements. This effect can be explained by the presence of oxygen defect sites that are generated at the Cu-ZnO interface and can be used to easily quantify the intensity of Cu-Zn interaction. N2O in fact probes the Cu surface plus the oxygen vacancies, whereas the exposed Cu surface area can be accurately determined by H2.

Stable Performance of Ni-Catalysts in Dry Reforming of Methane at High Temperatures for an Efficient CO2-Conversion into Syngas

The catalytic performance of a Ni/MgAlOx catalyst was investigated in the high temperature CO2 reforming of CH4. The catalyst was developed using a Ni, Mg, Al hydrotalcite‐like precursor obtained by co‐precipitation. Despite the high Ni loading of 55 wt%, the synthesized Ni/MgAlOx catalyst possessed a thermally stable microstructure up to 900 °C with Ni nanoparticles of 9 nm. This stability is attributed to the embedding nature of the oxide matrix, and allows increasing the reaction temperature without losing active Ni surface area. To evaluate the effect of the reaction temperature on the reforming performance and the coking behavior, two different reaction temperatures (800 and 900 °C) were investigated. At both temperatures the prepared catalyst showed high rates of CH4 consumption. The higher temperature promotes the stability of the catalyst performance due to mitigation of the carbon formation.