Data-Centric Heterogeneous Catalysis: Identifying Rules and Materials Genes of Alkane Selective Oxidation.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can accelerate catalyst design by identifying key physicochemical descriptive parameters correlated with the underlying processes triggering, favoring, or hindering the performance. In analogy to genes in biology, these parameters might be called "materials genes" of heterogeneous catalysis. However, widely used AI methods require big data, and only the smallest part of the available data meets the quality requirement for data-efficient AI. Here, we use rigorous experimental procedures, designed to consistently take into account the kinetics of the catalyst active states formation, to measure 55 physicochemical parameters as well as the reactivity of 12 catalysts toward ethane, propane, and n-butane oxidation reactions. These materials are based on vanadium or manganese redox-active elements and present diverse phase compositions, crystallinities, and catalytic behaviors. By applying the sure-independence-screening-and-sparsifying-operator symbolic-regression approach to the consistent data set, we identify nonlinear property-function relationships depending on several key parameters and reflecting the intricate interplay of processes that govern the formation of olefins and oxygenates: local transport, site isolation, surface redox activity, adsorption, and the material dynamical restructuring under reaction conditions. These processes are captured by parameters derived from N2 adsorption, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and near-ambient-pressure in situ XPS. The data-centric approach indicates the most relevant characterization techniques to be used for catalyst design and provides "rules" on how the catalyst properties may be tuned in order to achieve the desired performance.

Stacking sequence and interlayer coupling in few-layer graphene revealed by in situ imaging.

In the transition from graphene to graphite, the addition of each individual graphene layer modifies the electronic structure and produces a different material with unique properties. Controlled growth of few-layer graphene is therefore of fundamental interest and will provide access to materials with engineered electronic structure. Here we combine isothermal growth and etching experiments with in situ scanning electron microscopy to reveal the stacking sequence and interlayer coupling strength in few-layer graphene. The observed layer-dependent etching rates reveal the relative strength of the graphene-graphene and graphene-substrate interaction and the resulting mode of adlayer growth. Scanning tunnelling microscopy and density functional theory calculations confirm a strong coupling between graphene edge atoms and platinum. Simulated etching confirms that etching can be viewed as reversed growth. This work demonstrates that real-time imaging under controlled atmosphere is a powerful method for designing synthesis protocols for sp2 carbon nanostructures in between graphene and graphite.

In situ investigations of structure-activity relationships in heteropolyoxomolybdates as partial oxidation catalysts.

The structural evolution of Keggin-type heteropolyoxomolybdates (HPOM) during thermal treatment in propene and in propene and oxygen in the temperature range from 300 to 773 K was investigated by in situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) and in situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) combined with mass spectrometry. During treatment in propene or hydrogen and at reaction temperatures above 673 K, the initially triclinic H(3)[PMo(12)O(40)].13 H(2)O is transformed quantitatively into a cubic HPOM (Pn$\bar 3$m, a=11.853 A) exhibiting a long-range structure similar to that of the corresponding cesium salts. The treatment described constitutes the first readily available preparation route for a cubic HPOM without alkali metal ions in the structure. For both H(3)[PMo(12)O(40)] and Cs(2)H[PMo(12)O(40)] migration of molybdenum from the Keggin ion onto interstitial sites is proposed to occur in propene or hydrogen at temperatures above about 573 K to give thermally stable, partially reduced lacunary Keggin ions. During activation in propene and oxygen the onset of catalytic activity of H(3)[PMo(12)O(40)] and Cs(2)H[PMo(12)O(40)] at about 573 K correlates with partial reduction of Mo and characteristic changes in the local structure of the Keggin ion. The structural changes observed indicate that, similar to the treatment of the HPOM in propene, migration of molybdenum from the Keggin ions onto interstitial sites and formation of lacunary Keggin ions take place. Moreover, the formation of these partially reduced lacunary Keggin ions appears to be a prerequisite for the material to become an active heterogeneous catalyst. Evidently, the undistorted Keggin ion in the as-prepared HPOM has to be regarded as a precursor of the active catalyst.