University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2016 Bridging The Materials Gap In Catalysis: Reactivity Studies Of Nanostructured Titania David Alan Bennett University of Pennsylvania,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Chemical Engineering Commons, and the Chemistry Commons Recommended Citation Bennett, David Alan, "Bridging The Materials Gap In Catalysis: Reactivity Studies Of Nanostructured Titania" (2016). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 2187. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2187 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2187 For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Bridging The Materials Gap In Catalysis: Reactivity Studies Of Nanostructured Titania Abstract ABSTRACT BRIDGING THE MATERIALS GAP IN CATALYSIS: REACTIVITY STUDIES OF NANOSTRUCTURED TITANIA David A. Bennett John M. Vohs Surface science studies of defect-free, single-crystal model catalysts have provided vital knowledge in the form of structure-activity relationships and elementary reaction mechanisms. However, there is some difficultly in extending this understandingo t more complex systems, since these model catalysts typically lack the range of features that occur on the high surface area catalysts used in industry. This project seeks to bridge the gap between these two classes of materials by studying thin films of well-defined TiO2 nanocrystals with tunable size and morphology using traditional surface science techniques. This enables the controlled introduction of features lacking in single-crystal model catalysts, allowing for the formulation of more complex structure-activity relationships. The thermal- and photocatalytic reactions of methanol to produce methane, formaldehyde, dimethyl ether, and methyl formate on these TiO2 nanoparticles were investigated using temperature programmed desorption in ultra high vacuum.