Shailza Saini
Academic and research departments
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences.About
My research project
Highly efficient exsolution catalysts for CO2 utilisationEU aims to decrease its greenhouse gas emissions by 80-95% by 2050. At the moment the energy sector is responsible for ~75% of these emissions and our energy demands only keep increasing. Exsolution is an approach to producing nanoparticles with unique metal-support interaction, also displaying enhanced activity and stability. In this project we will prepare novel nano-structured catalysts using exsolution. We explore different nanostructure configurations and their effect on activity and selectivity when converting CO2 to synthetic fuels.
Supervisors
EU aims to decrease its greenhouse gas emissions by 80-95% by 2050. At the moment the energy sector is responsible for ~75% of these emissions and our energy demands only keep increasing. Exsolution is an approach to producing nanoparticles with unique metal-support interaction, also displaying enhanced activity and stability. In this project we will prepare novel nano-structured catalysts using exsolution. We explore different nanostructure configurations and their effect on activity and selectivity when converting CO2 to synthetic fuels.
University roles and responsibilities
- PGR Chemical engineering Representative
Affiliations and memberships
Publications
This includes the experimental data for the reverse water gas shift reaction. The data uploaded includes XRD, SEM, XPS and catalytic results for the materials used in the reaction. All the data is open access and is in .txt and .jpg format which can be accessible by any text editor.
The raw data is the experimental data of the paper 'Enhanced Stability of Iridium Nanocatalysts via Exsolution for the CO2 Reforming of Methane' which is accepted in the Journal ACS Applied Nano Materials. All the listed files include the catalytic data and material characterisation including SEM, TEM and XPS. The figures are denoted as Fig Xy-w, where X is the number of the figure, y is the part of the figure and w is explanation of each figure. The format includes txt, pdf, tiff and png file. The file format is open access format. The reforming reactions of greenhouse gases require catalysts with high reactivity, coking resistance, and structural stability for efficient and durable use. Among the possible strategies, exsolution has been shown to demonstrate the requirements needed to produce appropriate catalysts for the dry reforming of methane, the conversion of which strongly depends on the choice of active species, its interaction with the support, and the catalyst size and dispersion properties. Here, we exploit the exsolution approach, known to produce stable and highly active nanoparticle-supported catalysts, to develop iridium nanoparticle-decorated perovskites and apply them as catalysts for the dry reforming of methane. By studying the effect of several parameters, we tune the degree of exsolution, and consequently the catalytic activity, thereby identifying the most efficient sample - 0.5 at% Ir-BaTiO3, which showed 82% and 86% conversion of CO2 and CH4, respectively. By comparison with standard impregnated catalysts (e.g., Ir/Al2O3), we benchmark the activity and stability of our exsolved systems. We find almost identical conversion and syngas rates of formation, but observe no carbon deposition for the exsolved samples after catalytic testing; such deposition was significant for the traditionally prepared impregnated Ir/Al2O3, with almost 30 mgC/gsample measured, compared to 0 mgC/gsample detected for the exsolved system. These findings highlight the possibility of achieving in a single step the mutual interaction of the parameters enhancing catalytic efficiency, leading to a promising pathway for the design of catalysts for reforming reactions.