In Situ Studies of Promoted Catalytic Surfaces and Redox Active Mineral Surfaces

Abstract

In this dissertation the in situ technique, attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, will be utilized to probe reaction chemistry on two sets of surfaces; the first, a silicon-copper alloy surface where copper acts as a catalyst in the synthesis of methylchlorosilanes, and the second, a redox active iron-sulfur surface. Spectroscopic information obtained in situ will be combined with kinetic batch reaction results to elucidate details of the reaction mechanism that gives information regarding product formation in real time under real experimental conditions, without the need for modifying the experimental conditions to fit the analysis as is the case in traditional surface science techniques.