A new article has been published in Nature Materials with members of UCL and the UK Catalysis Hub. Authors included: I. Lezcano-Gonzalez, E. Campbell, A. E. J. Hoffman, M. Bocus, I. V. Sazanovich, M. Towrie, M. Agote-Aran, E. K. Gibson, A. Greenaway, K. De Wispelaere, V. Van Speybroeck and A. M. Beale.
So as we contemplate a new way of working remotely and the benefits therein, I am proud to share the fruits of some of our recent labour which could not have come about if it wasn’t for chance meetings in corridors & face-to-face discussions at conferences.
Prof. Andrew Beale (UCL)
The methanol-to-hydrocarbons reaction refers collectively to a series of important industrial catalytic processes to produce either olefins or gasoline. Mechanistically, methanol conversion proceeds through a ‘pool’ of hydrocarbon species. For the methanol-to-olefins process, these species can be delineated broadly into ‘desired’ lighter olefins and ‘undesired’ heavier fractions that cause deactivation in a matter of hours. The crux in further catalyst optimization is the ability to follow the formation of carbonaceous species during operation. Here, we report the combined results of an operando Kerr-gated Raman spectroscopic study with state-of-the-art operando molecular simulations, which allowed us to follow the formation of hydrocarbon species at various stages of methanol conversion.