Research Projects

The catalysts and supports are the vital prerequisites for the steam reforming of ethanol or methane. To obtain high rates of hydrogen, the catalyst compositions a crucial parameter. The investigation related to the decisive electronic parameters and dependency on elemental composition for catalytic efficacy is essential. Perovskite-type transition metal (TM) oxides are effective catalysts. To study the effect of compositional variation in supported/unsupported La-M-FeO3 (M: Cobalt or Nickel or Rhodium), perovskite catalyst on the reaction-speci?c reactant-catalyst interaction could be interesting. To assess the catalyst efficacy in the perovskite-type oxides substituted with different transitional metal (TM) has some commonly cited characteristics such as TM oxidation states, d- orbital occupancy, relevance electronic states related O2- or reactant binding strength. It is possible to acquire detailed knowledge by the combination of Synchrotron-based XAS (X-ray absorption spectroscopy) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). XAS is very effective technique to examine the reducibility of the catalysts in a long-range order, where XANES (X-ray absorption near edge structure) examine the oxidation state and the geometry and EXAFS (extended X-ray absorption fine structure) analyze their coordination atoms to the metal center. This knowledge hopefully provides a valuable insight into designing the perovskite catalyst with multi transitional element and suggests additional areas on which to focus in further study.