Research Highlights
With "The Dynamics of The Peel" in Nature Catalysis 3 (2020) 333-334, Prof.Rongming Wang, head of The preparation and characterization team of advanced functional materials, has been challenged in understanding The surface structure of catalysts in The current reaction environment. In a review of a recent paper published in the journal, "Loss of Core-Shell Structure for Ni-au bimetallic catalysts during CO2 Propagation", I point out that this work reveals effective surface for real-time evolution of Ni-AU bimetallic catalysts in the catalytic process, which not only contributes to a deeper understanding of the reaction mechanism of the catalysts. Moreover, it promotes the application of in situ characterization in the study of material structure in the reaction process. It is also suggested that similar phenomena may occur in other bimetallic nanoparticle systems and transition metal-semiconductor heterogeneous structures. The loss or formation of core-shell structure driven by dynamic atomic diffusion may occur under appropriate reaction conditions. This work, combined with various advanced in-situ techniques, provides inspiration for the study of nucleation process, crystal growth, crystal structure evolution and catalytic crystal inactivation process. The difference between the catalyst itself and the reaction outside the reaction environment is very obvious, and the role of in-situ characterization is evident. In the future, this in-situ characterization method may be applied not only to the study of solid-gas reactions, but also to reveal the dynamics of liquid-solid systems.
Paper links: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-020-0451-z
The advanced functional materials preparation and characterization team has built a first-rate transmission electron microscope with spherical aberration correction for ambient atmosphere and developed in situ characterization methods for functional materials under multi-field coupling. The team is committed to exploring high-throughput characterization methods for structural and performance evolution of materials in simulated environment and conditions, and promoting the application of advanced functional materials in information, energy and other fields.