Abstract
Emission control catalysts are crucial for protecting human health by preventing the release of harmful gases and unburnt fuel into the atmosphere. These catalysts often face deactivation through sintering processes in high-temperature, chemically reactive environments containing multiple gas species. Here, we use in situ environmental scanning transmission electron microscopy to monitor the sintering behavior and transient morphologies of Pt/Al2O3 in various relevant gas environments through controlled experiments. Our results reveal the particle migration and atomic ripening behavior of Pt/Al2O3 at the atomic scale in the presence of water vapor and oxygen, which differs from behaviors observed in single gas environments. We identify an atomic ripening mechanism involving the dissociation and migration of Pt adatom chains from Pt nanoparticles, observed only in combinational gases. These findings provide valuable insights into catalyst degradation behavior in complex gas environments.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 3301-3311 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | ACS Materials Letters |
| Volume | 6 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 5 2024 |
Funding
This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under contract no. DE-SC0022197. Microscopy was partially conducted at the Center for Nanophase Materials Science, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, and in part at the Analytical Instrumentation Facility (AIF) at NCSU, which is supported by the State of North Carolina and the National Science Foundation (award number ECCS-2025064). Associated TEM data analysis methods were developed with the support of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division. Infrared spectroscopy was performed at Co-ACCESS, which is part of the SUNCAT Center for Interface Science and Catalysis and supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Geosciences and Biosciences Division.