How a surprising surface transformation boosts catalyst activity (IMAGE)
Caption
A study led by SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University shows how tweaking the surface layer of a catalyst can make it work better. This particular catalyst is used to split water, the first step in making hydrogen fuel. It consists of alternating layers of materials rich in nickel (blue spheres) and lanthanum (green spheres; the red spheres represent oxygen atoms). When the material is grown at relatively cool temperatures so a nickel-rich layer is on top (left), the atoms on that surface layer rearrange during the water-splitting reaction (middle) in a way that allows them to carry out the reaction more efficiently (right). This surprising result gives scientists a new way to tune catalytic activity and engineer better catalysts.
Credit
Tomas Duchon/Forschungszentrum Juelich
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