In-situ X-Ray Absorption Near Edge Structure Spectroscopy of a Solid Catalyst using a Laboratory-Based Set-up

José G Moya-Cancino; Ari-Pekka Honkanen; Ad M J van der Eerden; Herrick Schaink; Lieven Folkertsma; Mahnaz Ghiasi; Alessandro Longo; Frank M F de Groot; Florian Meirer; Simo Huotari; Bert M Weckhuysen

doi:10.1002/cctc.201801822

In-situ X-Ray Absorption Near Edge Structure Spectroscopy of a Solid Catalyst using a Laboratory-Based Set-up

ChemCatChem. 2019 Feb 6;11(3):1039-1044. doi: 10.1002/cctc.201801822. Epub 2019 Jan 11.

Affiliations

¹ Inorganic Chemistry and Catalysis Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science Utrecht University Universiteitsweg 99 Utrecht 3584 CG The Netherlands.
² Department of Physics University of Helsinki PO Box 64 Helsinki FI-00014 Finland.
³ Dutch-Belgian Beamline BM26 European Synchrotron Radiation Facility CS 40220, Grenoble Cedex 9 38043 France.
⁴ Istituto per lo Studio dei Materiali Nanostrutturati (ISMN)-CNR USO, Via Ugo La Malfa 153 Palermo 90146 Italy.

Abstract

An in-situ laboratory-based X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES) Spectroscopy set-up is presented, which allows performing long-term experiments on a solid catalyst at relevant reaction conditions of temperature and pressure. Complementary to research performed at synchrotron radiation facilities the approach is showcased for a Co/TiO₂ Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis (FTS) catalyst. Supported cobalt metal nanoparticles next to a (very small) fraction of cobalt(II) titanate, which is an inactive phase for FTS, were detected, with no signs of re-oxidation of the supported cobalt metal nanoparticles during FTS at 523 K, 5 bar and 200 h, indicating that cobalt metal is maintained as the main active phase during FTS.

Keywords: Cobalt; Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis; X-ray spectroscopy; heterogeneous catalysis; hydrogenation reaction.