Identifying Catalytic Reactions on Single Nanoparticles

In the recent years, various high spatial resolution nanospectroscopy methods were developed and utilized to uncover catalysts’ heterogeneities and the ways by which these heterogeneities control the catalytic reactivity. High spatial resolution nanospectroscopy measurements identified that heterogeneities within catalytic particles lead to substantial gradients in reaction rates at different positions in the catalytic particle and variation in the reactivity between particles in the same batch. Here we review the latest developments in the field of high spatial resolution spectroscopy measurements of catalytic reactions on the surface of solid catalysts. Specifically, in this review we discuss the capabilities of various spectroscopic methods, such as super resolution imaging, tip enhanced Raman spectroscopy and IR nanospectroscopy to characterize the reactant-into-product-transformation on the surface of solid catalysts with nanometer resolution. It is demonstrated that high-spatial resolution spectroscopy measurements reveal the ways by which differences in the size, shape and composition of solid catalysts influence their reactivity, uncovering structure–reactivity correlations that are mostly masked while using averaging, ensemble based spectroscopy measurements.