Applications of High Sensitivity-Low Energy Ion Scattering (HS-LEIS) in heterogeneous catalysis

High Sensitivity-Low Energy Ion Scattering (HS-LEIS) is a sensitive analysis technique for the outermost atomic layer of a sample. On a heterogeneous catalyst, this outermost atomic layer is the precise location where the catalytic processes take place. Based on the principles of classical mechanics, HS-LEIS determines the mass of surface atoms by measuring the energy from ions that are scattered from the surface. Examples with pure oxides, mixed oxides and supported metal oxide catalyst samples are presented to demonstrate the sensitivity, the ease of quantification, the availability of information about layers immediately beneath the surface (relevant for the dispersion of the active catalytic component on the surface of the catalyst) as well as the potential for High Throughput Experimentation (HTE) due to the short analysis times.