Discovering New Dual and Triple Atom Catalysts

The central goal of DETECT is to discover and establish new fundamental insight into the catalytic activity of duel and triple atom catalysts.

Many chemical reactions – several related to securing a wider penetration of renewable energy – are not viable today due to a number of limitations of traditional catalysts including unfavorable scaling relations of intermediates, lack of selectivity, and cost and availability of precious metals.

Employing catalysts consisting of only two or three atoms offers a possible route to circumvent these limitations, while also lifting the constraints of current single atom catalysts and opening the possibility of catalyzing more complex reactions that may require more than a single atom to proceed.

This proposal will target electrochemical hydrogen peroxide formation, CO2 reduction to fuels and chemicals, and ammonia synthesis.

The dual and triple atom catalysts will be developed in an interactive feedback loop involving computation, synthesis, characterization and activity testing.

The dual and triple atom catalysts will be created using a cluster source with time-of-flight based mass filter, which enables even synthesis of dual and triple atoms catalyst with more than one elements - something that are virtually unexplored for catalysis.

Further, this synthesis method will produce well-defined catalysts that can be characterized on the atomic level, which is essential for comparing with computational predictions in the feedback loop.

DETECT could open for more energy efficient and more selective catalysts that could facilitate a number of ‘Dream Reactions’ for which we have no viable catalyst today.

Not least in the field of transforming our current fossil fuel based society, new catalysts are desperately needed to ensure a greater penetration of sustainable energy.