A micro-structured quartz reactor for kinetic and in situ spectroscopic studies in heterogeneous catalysis

A modular micro-structured quartz reactor was developed as a flexible device for controlled catalytic measurements in combination with in situ spectroscopic analysis. Depending on the actual reactor configuration, different shaped catalysts can be studied ex situ (e.g. by microscopy), or via in situ optical spectroscopy. The successful application of the reactor is demonstrated on two examples, the temperature-controlled ammonia oxidation over polycrystalline Pt catalyst, and the selective oxidation of propene over a supported molybdenum oxide-based thin film catalyst. The latter thin film catalyst was synthesized by a novel synthetic route using gelatine as wetting agent.