Comparative in Operando Studies in Heterogeneous Catalysis: Atomic and Electronic Structural Features in the Hydrogenation of Ethylene over Supported Pd and Pt Catalysts

There exists an emerging opportunity, engendered by advances made in experimental methods of research, to address long-standing questions about the nature of the molecular mechanisms that are operative in important heterogeneous catalytic processes, as well as the nature of the complex atomic and electronic structural features that mediate them. Of particular interest in this regard is the understanding of the dynamical attributes of catalytic processes—an understanding that might allow design principles to be applied to optimize the atomic and electronic structure of heterogeneous catalysts to sustain their performance in essentially any operating process condition. The current work explores these ideas—highlighting capabilities of in operando methods of spectroscopic characterization as applied to an exemplary heterogeneous catalytic process, olefin hydrogenation. No heterogeneous catalytic process has been studied more intensively than olefin hydrogenation. The extensive literature available establishe...