Obstacles and Catalysts of Peaceful Behavior

Description and aim

With this workshop we intend to highlight the important role of the working conditions of practical catalysis. Recent years have witnessed the development of a new generation of experimental tools, e.g. for transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and surface x-ray diffraction (SXRD), with which sensitive measurements of the structure and composition of model catalysts can be carried out under realistic or semi-realistic conditions: high pressures and high temperatures. Hand in hand with this development in instrumentation, important advances are being made in the theory, which can now explicitly take into account the combination of the partial pressures of the reactants and the high temperature and is now entering the regime that also the effects of the diffusion and flow of reactants and products through the gas phase above the active surface are incorporated. This one-week Lorentz Workshop will bring together some 50 scientists to exchange news and views about these important developments in Operando Research in Catalysis. The character of the workshop will be very open and it will provide an optimal basis for in-depth discussions.