Catalysis Science & Technology Blog

Researchers from Belgium have developed a self-cleaning coating for oven windows. Of the available self-cleaning coatings, only a couple are optically transparent at working domestic oven temperatures and these require at least 3 hours of heating. Using manganese and manganese-ceria oxide coatings, the team of researchers discovered that an organic lipid contaminant could be oxidised within one hour to leave transparent, contaminant-free glass.

Read the full article below:

Catalytic self-cleaning coatings for thermal oxidation of organic deposits on glass
Julie E. Verhelst, Daniel Decroupet and Dirk E. De Vos

Catal. Sci. Technol., 2013, DOI: 10.1039/C3CY20874E

Carbon dioxide is a problem. As a greenhouse gas it contributes towards global warming, and its ever-growing concentrations in the atmosphere are cited as a cause of anthropomorphic climate change. But now a team of researchers from the University of Bath have opened up the idea of using carbon dioxide as a useful potential feedstock; a useful chemical resource rather than a troublesome waste product.

Davide Mattia, who leads the research team, has taken inspiration from the well-known Fischer-Tropsh process, which uses an iron catalyst to react hydrogen with carbon monoxide, producing a mixture of alkanes that can be used as fuel. Mattia’s catalyst, which works with both carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, is also iron based, taking the form of iron nanoparticles embedded on carbon nanotubes. It has a rather unique method of preparation, which is not only simpler to carry out, but results in a more effective catalyst.

To read the full story, story please visit Chemistry World.

High CO₂ and CO conversion to hydrocarbons using bridged Fe nanoparticles on carbon nanotubes
Justin P. O’Byrne, Rhodri E. Owen, Daniel R. Minett, Sofia I. Pascu, Pawel K. Plucinski, Matthew D. Jones and Davide Mattia
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2013, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C3CY20854K

Posted on behalf of Sara Coles, Web-writer

James Wiswall and his colleagues, working with Professor Margaret Wooldridge at the University of Michigan, USA, have been studying catalytic propane combustion. This reaction has important implications for areas such as power generation (for example, integration of catalysts directly into the internal combustion engine combustion chamber) and removal of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from emissions.

The group used a stagnation-point flow reactor to study the catalytic activity of platinum, palladium, tin dioxide and 90 wt% SnO₂–10 wt% Pt for the combustion of propane under a variety of reaction conditions. Preliminary results suggest that the 90 wt% SnO₂–10 wt% Pt catalyst provides significant activity and has similar trends in activity as a function of stagnation-plane temperature to those of Pt and Pd, whereas pure SnO₂ shows no activity.

The researchers are optimistic that even better activity could be obtained if optimisation studies are carried out.

This development shows potential for Pt/SnO₂ to be used as a fuel oxidation catalyst. For more detail, read the full article:

An experimental investigation of catalytic oxidation of propane using temperature controlled Pt, Pd, SnO₂, and 90% SnO₂–10% Pt catalysts
J. T. Wiswall, M. S. Wooldridge and H. G. Im
Catal. Sci. Technol., 2013, 3, 618–625