X-ray absorption spectroscopy has proven to be a powerful in-situ technique for characterizing the local electronic and geometric structure of working catalysts, and continues to be the most widely used synchrotron technique by the catalyst characterization community. Here we show how high-energy-resolution x-ray absorption spectroscopy, commonly given the acronym HERFD (high-energy-resolution fluorescence detection) strongly bolsters the arsenal of in-situ catalyst characterization techniques. This advanced spectroscopy is readily applied at synchrotrons, highly sensitive, and suited to dynamic measurements with catalysts in reactive atmospheres. This will be illustrated using results characterizing single-site catalysts, zeolite- and MgO-supported iridium complexes with reactive ethylene and CO ligands, together with other select examples. The talk will also include a look to the future of applying this advanced spectroscopy to the tender x-ray regime in addition to the hard x-ray region, and to prospects of HERFD with the new undulator beamline at SSRL.

High-energy-resolution x-ray absorption spectroscopy: A powerful method to push the frontiers of in-situ x-ray absorption spectroscopy of catalysts

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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