Catalysts can stop working when atoms on the surface start
moving. At the Vienna University of Technology, this dance of the atoms could
now be observed and explained.
Lone people standing in a ballroom don’t tend to move a lot.
It’s only when they find a suitable dance partner that rapid motion sets in.
Atoms on iron-oxide surfaces behave in a similar way: Only with the right
molecular partner do they dance across the surface. Scientists at the Vienna
University of Technology have now filmed the atoms, proving that carbon
monoxide is the partner responsible for the quick motion. Their movies show
that the motion leads directly to clustering – an effect that can do great harm
in catalysts. The findings have now been published in the journal “Nature
Materials”.