To electrochemically test Pt-Pd and Pd-Bi bimetallic cluster systems with different nanoparticle structures, compositions and sizes;
To develop a novel electrochemical cell for in situ XAFS measurements of these and other materials in CATCHY;
To determine the structural and electronic properties of the deposited clusters of interest using in situ XAFS under CO2 electro-reduction conditions;
To correlate these results with those derived from the modelling of equivalent catalytic systems.
Expected Results
Design principles (i.e., structure, composition, particle size) for the preparation of bimetallic Pt-Pd and Pd-Bi catalysts for CO2-to-C1 electro-reduction, accompanied by greatly-needed spectroscopic/modelling insight regarding the effect of the d-band structure on the activity and selectivity of such catalysts.
Improved understanding of the reaction mechanisms and reactivity descriptors leading to each product.
Potential implementation of the most interesting catalytic system(s) in device-relevant GDEs.
Dissemination
Catchy Outreaching Events
Planned Secondments
VITO: training in industrial electrode design;
KUL: to fabricate cluster-decorated electrodes
DTU: to exchange know-how on electrocatalyst characterization.
