- Number 329 |
- January 24, 2011
Tracking signs of better catalysts
A representation of a volcano
graph. SUNCAT uses volcano
graphs to determine where
important chemical properties
coincide. A substance with
those properties is a good
candidate for a catalyst.
(Image courtesy
Frank Abild-Pederson.)
Researchers at DOE's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have taken a big step toward making useful catalysts easier to find or create-processes that have often relied on trial and error. As explained in the January 10 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, SLAC researchers at the Center for Sustainable Energy through Catalysis (SUNCAT) are using advances in surface chemistry research to better describe the intrinsically complex process of catalysis, a type of chemical reaction essential to many chemical processes, from producing fuels to creating plastic or fertilizers. The theory to explain just why catalysts make chemical reactions happen faster or more efficiently-and, more importantly, to predict even better catalysts-has lagged behind experimental efforts. The researchers at SUNCAT are using an approach called density functional theory to change that. So far, they have had success in understanding reactions involving transition metals. Future work will expand the method to handle additional classes of chemicals. Read more: http://today.slac.stanford.edu/feature/2011/suncat-pnas.asp
[Shawne Workman, 650.926.8946,
shawne@slac.stanford.edu]
