Auf der Jagd nach dem aktiven Zentrum - Video
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Our project
TrackAct - Tracking the Active Site in Heterogeneous Catalysis for Emission Control
More than 95% of all chemical products have seen a catalyst during their production, hence, catalysis plays a tremendeous role, presently being a 3 trillion $ / year market of chemical industry. Heterogeneous catalysis is a substantial part of it, and the great importance of emission control for environmental and human health is obvious.
Despite this importance, still very little is understood about the mechanisms on a truly atomic scale which is necessary for better control of function on all length scales up to the macroscopic. Consequently, catalyst design has been more empirical than knowledge-driven up to now. More than 60% of the noble metals produced worldwide are used in catalysis. As noble metals are finite resources, there is an urgent need to reduce their content in catalysts to the effective minimum, the so-called active site. Structural changes under process conditions and their pronounced heterogeneity often pose a great challenge for knowledge-based design. New perspectives are evolving, e.g. in the preparation of defined metal clusters/particles, their characterization, and theoretical modeling, allowing to track and fundamentally understand the active sites in catalytic systems. This is the starting point of this interdisciplinary Collaborative Research Centre, where we aim at a holistic understanding by linking the different length scales and catalyst complexity levels. Our scale-bridging approach connects three areas: (A) size-selected clusters and defined nanoparticles, (B) porous catalysts with noble metal particles of defined size on support oxides with oriented surfaces and (C) hierarchically structured catalysts at the reactor level.
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The goal of TrackAct is to identify and track the nature of the active site, to design and manipulate them from bottom-up across the various length scales, and - on a long-term vision - predict and actively control them during operation.
TrackAct officially started on January 1st 2021, press release from DFG and KIT.
Auf der Jagd nach dem aktiven Zentrum - Video
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Katalyseforschung auf drei Skalenebenen - Video
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Katalyseforschung auf drei Skalenebenen - Video
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We are thrilled to announce that our PI THomas Sheppard started his new position as Full Professor at TU Wien (link to press release)! There, he will continue his research on heterogeneous catalysis, the application of X-ray imaging for chemical processes and sustainable chemistry, in particular CO₂ conversion and power-to-X technologies. Congratulations!
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Stefanie Dehnen, Professor of Information-Based Materials Design and Nanoscience and of Inorganic Chemistry at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), was awarded one of the two Hector Science Prizes for the year 2024 on Friday, January 24, 2025. The Hector Foundation jury recognized Dehnen's contributions to the chemistry of cluster compounds and their utilization in materials science. In doing so, the researcher has opened up insights that have caused an international sensation and are being pursued worldwide.
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We are very happy to announce that our Collaborative Research Center 1441 TrackAct will be continued for four more years! Our new projects and PIs will be announced in the coming days in the research tab. More information can be found in the official press releases of DFG and KIT.
![Graphical abstract of "Exploring the Activation of Atomically Precise [Pt17(CO)12(PPh3)8]2+ Clusters: Mechanism and Energetics in Gas Phase and on an Inert Surface"](/img/News/images_medium_nn4c13954_0008_rdax_98.png)
Our colleagues from A02 studied the thermal decomposition of Pt17(CO)12(PPh3)82 to understand the changes during activation. Using mass spectrometry and surface science, they discovered that CO and benzene are released at higher energies, followed by H2 loss, indicating Pt-catalyzed C-H activation during partial ligand shell stripping. Check out their fascinating study!
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How to glue together few atoms? In their new study, our coworkers from B02, B03, B04 have demonstrated a new concept how ceria islands can be used to facilitate the formation of Pd clusters. The innovative work was also highlighted in a press release!
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How does the alloy composition and atomic arrangement of Pd/Pt nanoparticles influence CO adsorption and IR band frequencies, and what is the impact of hydrogen adsorption on these surfaces? Check out the new publication by our colleagues in A05 here.
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