TY - JOUR
T1 - Estimating surface electric fields using reactive formic acid probes and SEM image brightness analysis
AU - Gray, Jake T.
AU - Agarwal, Kriti
AU - Cho, Jeong Hyun
AU - Yang, Jung Il
AU - Ha, Su
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2020/12/15
Y1 - 2020/12/15
N2 - By changing the electrical bias imposed on a Ni catalyst attached to an external circuit, the selectivity of catalytic formic acid decomposition is shown to change—favoring CO2/H2 production under negative bias and CO/H2O production under positive bias. A method for estimating the strength of externally generated surface electric fields by measuring this selectivity change is presented and used to approximate field strengths on the order of 0.20 V/nm. A COMSOL model of the catalyst was created which indicated that the presence of Ni particles increased field strength and uniformity across the catalyst. Comparing this model to SEM imaging of the catalyst verified that the field strengths are highest on the surface of the catalyst particles, pore edges, and microscopic defects. The methods developed herein may be useful to future reaction engineers seeking to incorporate applied electric fields into process designs.
AB - By changing the electrical bias imposed on a Ni catalyst attached to an external circuit, the selectivity of catalytic formic acid decomposition is shown to change—favoring CO2/H2 production under negative bias and CO/H2O production under positive bias. A method for estimating the strength of externally generated surface electric fields by measuring this selectivity change is presented and used to approximate field strengths on the order of 0.20 V/nm. A COMSOL model of the catalyst was created which indicated that the presence of Ni particles increased field strength and uniformity across the catalyst. Comparing this model to SEM imaging of the catalyst verified that the field strengths are highest on the surface of the catalyst particles, pore edges, and microscopic defects. The methods developed herein may be useful to future reaction engineers seeking to incorporate applied electric fields into process designs.
KW - COMSOL model
KW - Formic acid decomposition
KW - SEM brightness imaging
KW - Selectivity enhancement
KW - Surface electric field
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U2 - 10.1016/j.cej.2020.125640
DO - 10.1016/j.cej.2020.125640
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85088257791
SN - 1385-8947
VL - 402
JO - Chemical Engineering Journal
JF - Chemical Engineering Journal
M1 - 125640
ER -