SFB 1441:  Tracking the active site in heterogeneous catalysis for emission control (TrackAct)

• Subject Area: Thermal Engineering/Process Engineering ; Chemistry
• Term: since 2021
• Website: Homepage
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 426888090

Heterogeneous catalysts based on supported noble metal clusters and particles play a key role in numerous applications such as emission control, hydrogen production and fine chemical synthesis. More than 60% of the noble metals produced annually are used in these areas. While their catalytic properties are strongly dependent on the atomic scale structure, cooperative and spatio-temporal effects occur within the reactor. In addition, structural changes under process conditions and their pronounced heterogeneity often pose a great challenge for the 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. Important facets are the use of novel preparation methods on all hierarchical levels, tracking of the structure of the noble metal species, and multiscale modeling from molecular processes to the catalytic reactor. This integrative strategy will be applied for catalytic emission control, but also fosters the development of fundamental concepts for heterogeneously catalyzed reactions in general. In the first funding period, the main emphasis will be on identifying and tracking of the active sites on the different levels of complexity. The second period aims at leveraging our understanding to manipulate the structure of the active sites and reactors. In the third period, we envision to use predictive tools to control the structure of the active site and the performance of the catalytic converter.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres

Current projects

• A01 - Structure and Chemical Reactivity of Size-Selected Clusters in Gas Phase (Project Heads Heiz, Ulrich ;  Schooß, Detlef )
• A02 - Reactivity and Sintering of Size- and Composition-Selected Clusters on Supports (Project Heads Kappes, Manfred ;  Lechner, Barbara )
• A03 - Reactivity and advanced electron microscopy of mass selected clusters deposited on oxide supports (Project Heads Hahn, Horst ;  Kübel, Christian )
• A04 - Infrared Spectroscopy and Quantum Chemical Calculations on Oxide-Supported Metal Parti-cles/Clusters (Project Heads Fink, Karin ;  Wang, Yuemin )
• A05 - Structure and composition of PtPd model catalysts under operando conditions: experiment and simulation (Project Heads Pleßow, Philipp ;  Stierle, Andreas )
• A06 - Probing dynamics of supported Pt and Pd catalysts through scale bridging analytical in situ scanning and transmission electron microscopy (Project Head Eggeler, Yolita )
• B01 - Synthesis and Characterization of Metal Oxide Supports with Anisotropic Shape (Project Heads Feldmann, Claus ;  Kübel, Christian )
• B02 - Systematic Synthesis and Catalytic Performance Tests of Defined Noble Metal Species on Powder Supports (Project Heads Behrens, Silke ;  Casapu, Maria )
• B03 - In situ/operando Characterization of Noble Metal Clusters and Particles on Metal Oxides at Work (Project Heads Grunwaldt, Jan-Dierk ;  Wöll, Christof )
• B04 - Multiscale Modeling of the Oxidative Removal of Pollutants (Project Heads Angeli, Sofia ;  Studt, Felix )
• C01 - Novel reactor and catalyst concepts via 3D-printing and supercritical fluid reactive deposi-tion (Project Heads Dittmeyer, Roland ;  Türk, Michael )
• C02 - Catalytic monoliths with narrow particle size distribution in washcoats with well-defined gradients (Project Heads Behrens, Silke ;  Grunwaldt, Jan-Dierk )
• C03 - Chemical Imaging of Structured Catalysts using High Resolution X-ray Microscopy and To-mography (Project Heads Schroer, Christian ;  Sheppard, Thomas )
• C04 - Space- and time-resolved investigation of the gas phase and the active surface/bulk (Project Heads Deutschmann, Olaf ;  Grunwaldt, Jan-Dierk )
• C05 - Understanding and modeling the influence of real operation conditions on catalyst perfor-mance (Project Heads Deutschmann, Olaf ;  Koch, Thomas )
• INF - Automation of interdisciplinary research data management for catalysis (Project Heads Deutschmann, Olaf ;  Sheppard, Thomas ;  Studt, Felix )
• Z - Central Tasks and Coordination of the CRC (Project Head Grunwaldt, Jan-Dierk )

• Applicant Institution: Karlsruher Institut für Technologie
• Participating University: Technische Universität München (TUM)
• Participating Institution: Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY)
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Jan-Dierk Grunwaldt