NAM28 will be providing six separate workshops on the Sunday of the conference. The goal of the workshops is to provide catalysis researchers (especially students) with an opportunity to refresh, solidify, or expand their knowledge in both traditional and emerging areas of catalysis.
Workshops are open to all registered NAM28 participants for a fee of $40. Advance registration for the workshops and payment of the fee are required. Once conference registration opens in February, it will be possible to sign up for the workshops via the conference registration site. The maximum number of participants per workshop is 60, and registration will be on a first-come, first-served basis.
The workshops will be held in classroom-configured meeting rooms at the Rhode Island Convention Center. Specific room assignments will be posted at a later date. All workshops take place in parallel, between 12:30 pm and 4 pm on Sunday, June 18, 2023.
Overview
Click a workshop title for more details.
- Workshop 1: Advancing mechanistic understanding of catalysis through in situ/operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy, neutron spectroscopy and NMR spectroscopy
- Workshop 2: Reaction engineering short course on laboratory reactors
- Workshop 3: Considerations for electrocatalytic reactions
- Workshop 4: Advancing catalysis research with advanced electron microscopy techniques
- Workshop 5: Obtaining good kinetic insights from badly-behaved reactors
- Workshop 6: Computational catalysis for non-computational researchers
Workshop 1: Advancing mechanistic understanding of catalysis through in situ/operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy, neutron spectroscopy and NMR spectroscopy
Instructors
Adam S. Hoffman (SLAC), Zili Wu (ORNL), Frédéric A. Perras (Ames Lab)
Description
This workshop will introduce the essential concepts and practical aspects of X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), neutron spectroscopy, and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy with an emphasis on their use in catalysis research. The workshop content will cover how these techniques may aid catalysis researchers’ own research efforts and introduce some of the unique capabilities available to catalysis researchers at the US Department of Energy Basic Energy Sciences National User facilities and laboratories, and methods to gain access to these capabilities. The workshop will include:
XAS: This section will cover important aspects of the application of X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) as applied to the catalyst researcher. The workshop content will enable the researcher to have a firm grasp of how the technique might aid their own research, and why they should consider incorporating it into their research program.
Neutron spectroscopy: This section will focus on how neutron spectroscopy – inelastic neutron scattering (INS) – can be used to provide unique information about light elements such as hydrogen involved in surface chemistry and catalyst structures. Other neutron techniques for catalysis research including neutron diffraction will also be introduced.
NMR: This section will cover the basic aspects of modern high-resolution solid-state NMR spectroscopy, including magic-angle-spinning (MAS), operando MAS NMR, ultrafast MAS, correlation spectroscopy, distance measurements, quadrupolar nuclei, and dynamic nuclear polarization. Examples will be provided to demonstrate how many of these techniques can be applied to solving structural and mechanistic problems.
About the instructors
Adam S. Hoffman is an Associate Scientist at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory where he is developing a catalysis-centric X-ray characterization beamline. He specializes in time-resolved XAS characterization and experimental development to elucidate the dynamic nature of catalysts under in situ/operando conditions. Adam Hoffman has prepared the workshop content together with Simon R. Bare, who is a Distinguished Scientist at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory where he leads a group developing methodology and applications of operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) for characterizing catalysts. SRB is an expert in applications of XAS to understanding the dynamic structure of catalysts.
Duration
Approx. 3 hours including breaks
Workshop 2: Reaction engineering short course on laboratory reactors
Instructors
Jospeh DeWilde (Dow) and John Barton (Dow)
Description
Developed by the Core R&D Reaction Engineering group of The Dow Chemical Company and designed for chemists and engineers who operate or use data from laboratory reactors, this workshop contains fundamental reaction engineering knowledge essential for generating high quality data from a laboratory scale reactor. The workshop content includes general principles and practical tips for designing and operating laboratory reactors. The bulk of the workshop content focuses on stirred tank and fixed bed reactors for a variety of reaction systems, including homogeneous liquid phase, gas-liquid, gas-solid, liquid-solid, and gas-liquid-solid systems. At the end of this workshop, chemists and engineers will have a better understanding of the critical factors affecting the performance of laboratory scale reactors and the appropriate means for addressing those factors to maximize the probability of generating quality data.
During this workshop, the instructors will introduce a publicly available tool for estimating gradients in heterogeneous catalyst particles and for sizing laboratory fixed bed reactors. This tool is the product of a collaboration between Dow and Purdue University.
About the instructors
A Research Scientist at Dow Chemical, Joseph DeWilde has 6 years of experience in industrial R&D. Joseph has developed and improved many traditional thermal catalytic processes during his time in Reaction Engineering and as part of Business Research in the production of acrylate molecules.
John Barton has been at Dow for 4 years, working in the Reaction Engineering group with a focus in developing models for various reactors. He received his PhD at MIT working on redox flow batteries with Prof. Brushett, and continues electrochemical engineering in his current role.
Duration
Approx. 3 hours
Workshop 3: Considerations for electrocatalytic reactions
Instructor
Elizabeth J. Biddinger (The City College of New York)
Description
The field of electrocatalysis is growing at a rapid rate with many emerging and re-investigated applications in renewable energy, waste treatment, decarbonization, sustainability and beyond. This workshop is intended for those interested in learning more about electrocatalysis, whether it is a new introduction to the field or to better understand analysis techniques. A basic overview of electrochemistry and terms along with relations between electrochemical and thermal heterogeneous catalysis will be covered. Discussion of cell/reactor selection and operating conditions will be provided in context of the types of reactions to be studied. Analyses including reaction rates, selectivity, Faradaic efficiency, # electrons transferred, energy efficiency, etc. and interpretation of data will be examined. Real electrochemical data will be provided for participants to analyze during the workshop. An open Q&A session will also be held for the participants.
About the instructor
Elizabeth J. Biddinger is an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at The City College of New York, Deputy Director of the Center for Decarbonizing Chemical Manufacturing (DC-MUSE) and Associate Editor of ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. Her research expertise is in utilization of electrochemistry and novel electrolytes for electrocatalytic reactions, recovery of metals from wastes, and battery applications.
Duration
3 h + 15 min break
Attendee equipment
Attendees need to bring a laptop with Excel or another spreadsheet program. Power outlets will be provided.
Workshop 4: Advancing catalysis research with advanced electron microscopy techniques
Instructors
Peter A. Crozier and Jingyue “Jimmy” Liu (Arizona State University)
Description
The ability to characterize technical catalysts at atomic resolution is recognized as essential to fully understanding synthesis-structure-property relationships of heterogeneous catalysts. This workshop will cover important aspects of applying transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning TEM (STEM) techniques to characterizing solid catalysts. The workshop content will enable catalysis researchers to have a fundamental understanding of the capabilities of advanced EM techniques, including in situ and operando methods. We expect that after the workshop, attendees will have a firm grasp of how to correctly apply EM techniques to characterizing their own catalysts. The workshop will include:
(i) An introduction to TEM/STEM and associated imaging, diffraction and analytical techniques
(ii) Sample preparation for TEM/STEM observations
(iii) Atomic resolution imaging in TEM/STEM and in situ and operando operations
(iv) Chemical analysis with nano- or atomic-scale resolution
(v) Data analysis and preservation
(vi) Challenges and potential artefacts
(vii) Prospects for future development
We recommend this workshop for those catalysis researchers who have been using or who intend to use advanced EM techniques for characterization of solid catalysts.
About the instructors
Peter A. Crozier is a Professor in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy at Arizona State University. He has extensive experience in developing and applying advanced transmission electron microscopy techniques to problems related to energy and the environment with special emphasis on electroceramics, catalytic materials and atmospheric aerosols. He is particularly interested in in situ and operando approaches to catalyst characterization.
Dr. Jingyue (Jimmy) Liu has been a professor of physics at Arizona State University since 2011. His research group has focused on developing nanostructures for heterogeneous catalysis, energy and sustainability with an emphasis on utilizing the capabilities of atomic resolution electron microscopy techniques to explore synthesis-structure-performance relationships. The overall goal of his research group is to develop scalable synthesis strategies to construct atomic-scale functional entities with targeted physicochemical properties.
Duration
3 h
Workshop 5: Obtaining good kinetic insights from badly-behaved reactors
Instructor
Jesse Bond (Syracuse University)
Description
It is straightforward to determine species concentrations in catalytic reactors. It is less straightforward to extract meaningful kinetic data from these concentrations. Methods of reactor analysis invoke assumptions of ideality that rarely hold in catalysis practice. Surfaces evolve and deactivate in response to changes temperature and composition, embedding time-domain phenomena that obscure reaction kinetics, and even a diligent experimentalist will struggle to eliminate gradients in temperature, pressure, and composition across the microstructure of catalyst particles and the macrostructure of catalytic reactors. In addition, we rarely have sufficient information about both mechanisms and catalyst surfaces to define an “active site”, let alone to titrate that active site with quantitative precision. In the face of this uncertainty, how confident are we really when we report a turnover frequency?
This workshop is intended for experimentalists and theoreticians working in heterogeneous catalysis, especially those that rely on experimental quantification of reaction rates. Background in kinetics, catalysis, and reaction engineering at the chemical engineering undergraduate level is beneficial. This course will focus on reactions that are difficult to characterize (kinetically). We illustrate key concepts through case studies from our laboratories and/or the relevant literature. Systems will include those that exhibit transient phenomena; catalyst deactivation; product inhibition; thermodynamic constraints; structure sensitivity; and heat and mass transfer effects.
We include helpful diagnostic tests, and we outline strategies for extracting meaningful insights from challenging systems.
About the instructor
Jesse Bond is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at Syracuse University. His degrees are in Chemical Engineering from Louisiana State University (B.S.) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Ph.D.). His research is focused on the acquisition and analysis of kinetic data.
Duration
Approx. 3 h including 30 min break
Workshop 6: Computational catalysis for non-computational researchers
Instructors
Michael Janik (Pennsylvania State University) and Líney Árnadóttir (Oregon State University)
Description
The workshop will help catalysis researchers new to theory and computational catalysis to understand the steps involved in using density functional theory and other tools. We will review the process to set up and perform DFT calculations, as well as how to use the energies attained to construct reaction energy diagrams. Emphasis will be on the process of selecting and building a model of the catalyst and hypothesizing reaction intermediates and elementary steps. We will overview the methodological choices made in performing the calculations, emphasizing the practical nature of the choices without requiring an extensive background in quantum mechanics. The workshop will end by reviewing how DFT derived reaction energetics can be used to construct microkinetic models for comparison of computationally predicted and experimentally measured catalytic kinetics.
About the instructors
Mike Janik – Professor of Chemical Engineering at Penn State University. Mike leads a research group concentrating on computational catalysis, ranging across thermal and electrocatalytic processes and using tools including DFT, MD, and microkinetic modeling.
Líney Árnadóttir – Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at Oregon State University. Her research group combines experiments and theory through collaborations, DFT calculations, microkinetic modeling, and XPS analysis of heterogeneous catalysis processes.
Duration
3 h plus two 15-min breaks
Attendee equipment
Attendees are encouraged to bring a laptop. Power outlets will be provided.