Videoconference

18.12.2020

Prof. Dr. Henrik Grönbeck (Department of Physics and Competence Centre for Catalysis, Chalmers University of Technology)

A key focus in heterogeneous catalysis is to understand the dominant reaction paths and to isolate the character of the active sites. This is a challenge because of the dynamic character of the catalyst, which may undergo structural and phase changes as a response to the reaction conditions. To obtain information about the active site, the catalyst should preferably be characterized during operando conditions. The need to account for reaction conditions applies also to computational work with the purpose to establish links between elementary steps and catalyst activity.

I will discuss our recent efforts to understand CH₄ and CO oxidation over extended metal and oxide surfaces using first principles calculations exemplifying different aspects of operando computational catalysis. Special attention will be given our attempts to perform explicit simulations of nanoparticle kinetics. The examples will cover how composition, size, shape and strain may affect activity.