Case Studies: Infrared (IR) Spectroscopy

The chapter illustrates the role of FT-IR spectroscopy in clarifying the nature of the surface species formed on a catalyst in reaction conditions and their behavior as a function of the reaction variables (such as the temperature and the reactants’ concentration). In particular, two case studies have been selected, belonging to two different categories of heterogeneous catalysts: a Cu exchanged chabazite zeolite (Cu-CHA), which can be classified as a single-site catalyst; and a Pt/Al2O3 catalyst, where the active Pt phase is in the form of nanoparticles and hence is an example of multisite catalyst. Taken together, the two case studies demonstrate the potentials of FT-IR spectroscopy in catalysis, provided that the experiments (either in situ or operando) are properly designed by tuning the reaction conditions.