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Correlating Catalyst Structure and Activity at the Nanoscale
Author(s) -
Van Loon Jordi,
Kubarev Alexey V.,
Roeffaers Maarten B. J.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
chemnanomat
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.947
H-Index - 32
ISSN - 2199-692X
DOI - 10.1002/cnma.201700301
Subject(s) - nanoscopic scale , catalysis , nanotechnology , characterization (materials science) , materials science , scale (ratio) , heterogeneous catalysis , chemistry , biological system , biology , organic chemistry , cartography , geography
Heterogeneous catalysts are commonly applied to enhance chemical reactions. Their performance is largely determined by catalyst structure and composition. These properties are however intrinsically variable at the nanoscale. Traditional bulk‐scale characterization tools often fail to capture the structure‐activity relationship at this scale. The development of fluorescence based assays has enabled catalytic activity mapping at the level of single catalytic turnovers, allowing catalyst activity to be investigated beyond the single particle level. Nonetheless, interpretation of these insights remains challenging without matching local structural information. This has resulted in increased efforts to develop approaches that correlate super‐resolution fluorescence with electron microscopy. In this focus review, a concise overview of currently available approaches is provided, followed by some case studies in which correlative nanoscale structure‐activity investigations of (photo)catalyst materials were performed.