Principal Investigator: Abhaya Datye
Institution: University of New Mexico
Analysis (rationale for decision):
This proposal represents a GOALI collaborative research effort between the University of New Mexico (UNM), Albuquerque, NM and Delphi (Tulsa, OK). Delphi is a leading manufacturer of mobile electronics, transportation components and systems technology. In this project, UNM and Delphi will team together to address a problem which pervades all applications of heterogeneous catalysts, namely the loss of active metal surface area during high temperature operation of heterogeneous catalysts. Catalyst sintering represents one of the most important factors limiting the long-term durability of catalysts. While nano-sized metal particles represent the mainstay of heterogeneous catalysis, coarsening of nanoparticles can occur at rather modest temperatures, causing irreversible changes in activity and selectivity. Industrial catalytic processes must therefore operate at temperatures where the rate of metal surface area loss due to sintering can be kept within manageable proportions. Despite its obvious technological importance, fundamental understanding of sintering is still lacking and predictive models are not available. The work will address the key variables that affect sintering rates: pore structure, gas atmosphere, metal-oxide interface, and support morphology.
The research will be carried out at UNM while Delphi will contribute by providing personnel time, materials such as catalyst supports and finished catalysts and also providing access to its testing facilities. Experiments will be conducted with model catalysts that include (a) single crystal oxide surfaces or (b) surfactant templated oxide powders. A unique feature of the proposed research program is that industrial catalyst structures will be used as a test bed to explore the broad applicability of fundamental concepts being studied on model catalysts. The results of this research will be published in the archival literature and presented at national and international conferences in this field. The knowledge gained from fundamental studies of model catalysts will be applied to industrially relevant catalysts whose performance can be tested under realistic conditions. A specific objective of the proposed research program is the development of novel approaches for the study of heterogeneous catalysts. In addition, we will develop methods to control the nano-scale surface topology of catalyst supports, a factor that has heretofore been ignored in heterogeneous catalysis. The major contribution of this research program will be systematic studies of sintering phenomena under industrially relevant conditions, development of innovative approaches for the study of industrial heterogeneous catalysts and the development of synthetic approaches to engineer heterogeneous catalysts at the nano-scale.
