Catalyst Metal Crystallite Size and Microstructure

Catalyst metal crystallite size and microstructure analysis

Metal crystallite size is important for supported metal catalysts and is related to catalyst activity. Measuring catalyst metal crystallite size includes techniques such as image analysis from electron micrographs. Intertek experts establish a spatial model for the crystallites, and whether or not they are clustered.

Intertek's X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) testing is able to sample much larger numbers of crystallites and provide crystallite size and size distributions by analysing the shapes of line profiles for each phase present. Crystallite size distributions can give much more information than mean sizes, e.g. for growth mechanisms. Other information on microstructure that can be obtained includes lattice distortion and faulting.

Catalyst test samples can be provided under an inert blanket, passivated or reduced in-situ in our XRD rig. Metal crystallite size and microstructure can be studied at programmed temperatures and under different atmospheres. It is possible to transfer samples to TEM and/or surface analysis through high quality dry boxes.