The nature of the active site in heterogeneous metal catalysis†
Abstract
This tutorial review, of relevance for the surface science and heterogeneous catalysis communities, provides a molecular-level discussion of the nature of the active sites in metal catalysis. Fundamental concepts such as “Brønsted–Evans–Polanyi relations” and “volcano curves” are introduced, and are used to establish a strict partitioning between the so-called “electronic” and “geometrical” effects. This partitioning is subsequently employed as the basis for defining the concept “degree of structure sensitivity” which can be used when analyzing the structure sensitivity of catalytic reactions.
- This article is part of the themed collection: Chemistry at surfaces