Microscopy and catalysis

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Team members : X. Sauvage (DR), S. Moldovan(IR)

The very high spatial and energetic resolutions of Transmission Electron Microscopes (TEM) make them a tool of choice for the characterization of nanometric catalysts. Our activities focus for example on zeolites and are carried out in collaboration with the Catalysis and Spectrochemistry Laboratory (LCS) of Caen.  These works are motivated by the development of new nanometric catalysts allowing a more efficient conversion of fossil and renewable hydrocarbons (biomass). 

Thanks to a dedicated object holder of last generation, we can follow by TEM at atomic scale and in real time, the evolution of the nanostructure of the catalysts in conditions close to their real environment (temperature, pressure and gas medium). We aim at identifying the activation and/or deactivation mechanisms of the catalysts, in order to open new optimization perspectives. For this purpose, we are developing original 3D analysis methodologies using TEM tomography.