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Catalysts

Adsorption studies using water and organic vapors are a powerful way to characterize catalysts and adsorbents

Catalysts are complex materials, with both porous structures and very specific surface chemistries. Advanced vapour sorption methods have been highly successful in improving our understanding of many facets of these materials performance. The ability to use a wide range of organic and gaseous phase species, combined with both kinetic and equilibrium measurements have led to the widespread use of our techniques in this sector.

Surface area

One of the most successful methods for determining the surface area of a solid is based on the BET method for gas adsorption. The adsorption method of Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) is based on the physical adsorption of a vapour or gas onto the surface of a solid. Surface Measurement Systems have pioneered the use of both the DVS and the IGC methods for determining the surface area of solid state materials including catalysts and catalyst supports.

Application Note 18: Measuring BET Surface Areas using Organic Probe Molecules | Request a copy

Application Note 219: The Characterisation of Surface Area and Surface Adsorption Potential Heterogeneity Profiles of Hair by Inverse Gas Chromatography
| Request a copy

Application Note 225: Isotherm Measurements for BET Surface Area Calculations using Inverse Gas Chromatography
| Request a copy

A key benefit of SMS instruments is that we routinely study sorption phenomena; that are specialists can not only use gaseous species, but also non gaseous species. Vapours such as water, hexane, ethanol and 30 other solvents are regularly used to characterise solid state catalysts using the DVS, the DVS-Vacuum and the SEA instruments, so are ideal research platforms for studying chemisorption phenomena.

Application Note 217: Titration of selective surface groups by pulse inverse gas chromatography | Request a copy

Application Note 221: The Determination of Acid-Base Parameters by Inverse Gas Chromatography | Request a copy

Application Note 226: Surface Energetic Heterogeneity of Carbon-based Nanomaterials | Request a copy

Catalysts can some times offer challenging drying requirements and behaviour. Using the DVS-Vacuum and the DVS-Advantage, we are able to study complex drying phenomena for catalysts and related inorganic materials.

Application Note 50: An Overview of Dynamic and Gravimetric Vapour Sorption Vacuum System | Request a copy

Application Note 51: Gas Capture and Vapour Separation by Microporous Materials | Request a copy

Particle adhesion can be a crucial issue for many catalysts and catalyst supports. A crucial factor in determining adhesion is the surface energy of the materials in question be they particle or coating. The surface energy of all these types of materials can be easily measured using Surface Measurement System’s unique Surface Energy Analyser.

Application Note 17: Measurement of the Surface Energies of Powders using Organic Vapor Probes and DVS.
| Request a copy

The moisture sorption properties of many solid state materials, especially organic materials are critical for the characterisation of their drying and shelf life stability. In the past 10 years the DVS method invented by Surface Measurement Systems has become the standard laboratory method for studying drying and dehydration behaviour.

Application Note 50: An Overview of Dynamic and Gravimetric Vapour Sorption Vacuum System | Request a copy

Application Note 51: Gas Capture and Vapour Separation by Microporous Materials | Request a copy

Using BET adsorption isotherms obtained with a wide range of solutes, the porosity of materials can be determined using well established analyses. Unlike most other methods, SMS instruments can use organic molecules for determining the BET isotherms, not just nitrogen which is the traditional approach. The ability to use a wide range of species from hexane to decanol provides a much more insightful data on porosity especially for materials which are microporous.

Application Note 18: Measuring BET Surface Areas Using Organic Probe Molecules | Request a copy

Application Note 215: A sorption study on microporous materials by finite dilution inverse gas chromatography | Request a copy

Application Note 225: Isotherm Measurements for BET Surface Area Calculations using Inverse Gas Chromatography
| Request a copy

Studying molecular diffusion and permeability in catalysts can be is key to understanding and optimising their performance. The DVS and SEA instruments allows such phenomena to be studied using a wide range of probe molecules including water, organic solvents and gases, depending upon the specific SMS instrument used. SMS instruments are ideal for obtaining both kinetic and equilibrium information on molecular diffusion and permeability in catalysts and catalyst supports.

Application Note 15: Faster Sorption Isotherms using Helium Carrier Gas | Request a copy

Application Note 16: Calculation of Diffusion Constants in Thin Polymer Films using DVS | Request a copy

As well as our ability to perform single component gas and vapour sorption investigations, SMS has pioneered novel experimental methods which allow two component solute mixtures to be used, so that complex competitive adsorption phenomena can be studied.

Application Note 40: Using the DVS to Study the Water Sorption Properties of Multi-Component Systems | Request a copy