Mithra Technologies Inc — Department of Energy SBIR Phase I: 17c

Description

Catalytic technology plays a key role in protecting our environment and providing the fertilizer, fuels, pharmaceuticals and chemicals needed to make the consumer goods that support a prosperous society. The manufacture of essential molecules such as ammonia and ethylene are enormously energy intensive but advanced catalytic materials and processes can enable energy efficiency. A key challenge in the development of new and advancement of existing catalytic technology is a limited understanding of how the catalyst composition and structure controls a complex series of chemical reactions on the catalyst surface. Spectroscopic characterization and detailed kinetic analysis are generally conducted separately due to the physical limitations of laboratory instrumentation. This project provides a new approach to combine detailed transient kinetic experiments with advanced spectroscopic characterization. of catalytic materials. Development of a fast gas delivery system will enable transient spectrokinetic measurements that can provide researchers with new fundamental understanding of how the structure and composition of a complex industrial catalyst can be manipulated to improve the energy efficiency of a chemical reaction. The structure/kinetics challenge will be met with a new tool that enables direct study of the structural and composition changes that are induced by ultra-low intensity gas pulsing dynamics. A compact gas pulsing manifold will be developed and demonstrated in Phase I. This system will be adapted from the most advanced transient kinetic technique and integrated into conventional lab-scale x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Phase I activities include design, fabrication and testing of the valve system to meet rigorous pulse intensity, stability and reproducibility specifications that are required for successful integration of ultra-high vacuum spectroscopy and transient kinetic characterization. A key challenge will be to design the pulsing manifold to be easily integrated into most spectroscopy tools via a small, standard size vacuum flange. A successful spectrokinetic pulsing prototype in Phase I will lead to a new add-on product that can be integrated with most commercial x-ray photoelectron instruments that are commonly found in academic, industrial and government research labs pursuing catalyst development. This device will enable researchers with new ways of asking scientific questions and can in the future emerge beyond catalysis applications and be used to characterize membrane technology, chemical sensors, corrosion/passivation processes, electrodes, etc. The same pulsing technique can be integrated into other commonly-used spectroscopic tools such as infrared, Raman and ultraviolet spectroscopy.