According to Zhang, the dynamics of the amorphous interphase could be leveraged in the future to make the catalyst more selective for specific carbon products. Additionally, understanding the interphase will help scientists combat degradation – which occurs on the surface of all catalysts over time – to develop systems with longer operational lifetimes.

“Previously, people relied on the initial surface structure to design the catalyst for both efficiency and stability. The discovery of the amorphous interphase challenges our previous understanding of solid-liquid interfaces, prompting a need to consider its effects when devising strategies,” said Zhang.

(Left to Right) Peter Ercius, staff scientist, National Center for Electron Microscopy (NCEM), Haimei Zheng, senior scientist, Materials Science Division (MSD), Karen Bustillo, scientific engineer, NCEM, and Qiubo Zhang, Postdoctoral Researcher, MSD, photographed at the ThemIS in-situ microscope at NCEM of the Molecular Foundry. (Credit: Thor Swift/Berkeley Lab)

“During the reaction, the structure of the amorphous interphase changes continuously, impacting performance. Studying the dynamics of the solid-liquid interface can aid in understanding these changes, allowing for the development of suitable strategies to enhance catalyst performance,” added Zhigang Song, co-first author and postdoctoral scholar at Harvard University.

The technology is now available for licensing by contacting [email protected]. The other authors on this work were Xianhu Sun, Yang Liu, Jiawei Wan, Sophia. B. Betzler, Qi Zheng, Junyi Shangguan, Karen. C. Bustillo, Peter Ercius, Prineha Narang, and Yu Huang. Funding was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science. The Molecular Foundry is a DOE Office of Science user facility.

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