Catalytic Phenomena in Combinatorial Libraries of Heterogeneous Catalysts

Combinatorial catalysis is becoming a significant method for investigating the activities of large numbers of potential catalysts. A very important prerequisite for making use of combinatorial catalysis research is a reliable, fast and efficient technique for monitoring the catalytic activities. Emissivity-corrected infrared thermography, which monitors the heat changes resulting from the heat of reaction on catalyst surfaces, is such a technique. In this article we describe emissivity-corrected infrared thermography and demonstrate its performance, over time, in monitoring the catalytic activities of catalyst libraries. It is shown that not only can static relative activity be displayed, but also that catalyst-specific time-dependent properties, such as activation and deactivation phenomena can be demonstrated.