What is it about?
According to estimates, at least 60% of the industrial products and 90% of chemical transformations are based on catalysts. Most large-scale catalytic processes are heterogeneously catalyzed since that allows for easier separation of products, reactants, and the catalyst. Unfortunately, most catalysts use rare metals, such as e.g., platinum, palladium, etc., which are expensive and limited in supply. Therefore, in this project we developed a carbon-based catalyst that is abundant and cheap. The catalyst breaks down small sulfur compounds with potential applications in pollution control and hydrogen formation. Using a combination of kinetics techniques, spectroscopy, atomically resolved imaging, and quantum chemistry modelling we aim towards reaching an atomic level understanding of the catalytic processes involved.
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Why is it important?
Most catalysts use rare metals, such as e.g., platinum, palladium, etc., which are expensive and limited in supply. We work on a sustainable approach using abundant and less expensive materials also keeping environmental impacts low.
Perspectives
Working carbon catalysts still encounter skepticism in the catalysis and surface science communities since they would be a paradigm change which is often difficult to accept even by a scientific community. My group did work on this for quite some time, inching-on systematically and with some luck we found a system that works. Finally, our team included synthesis, characterization, and theory groups.
Uwe Burghaus
North Dakota State University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Adsorption and reaction of SO
2
, H
2
S, and N
2
O on graphene/silicon(111): Successful quest for a..., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, March 2026, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2524790123.
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