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New Technique Provides Accurate temperature Measurements for Catalyst Development
Accurate temperature measurement plays a crucial role in developing efficient catalysts. chemical reactions either absorb heat (endothermic) or release heat (exothermic), and controlling temperature at the catalyst surface allows scientists to coordinate multiple reactions more effectively.
Though, conventional temperature measurements rely on bulk readings that average conditions across a reactor. These measurements often fail to capture the precise habitat at the catalyst surface, making it arduous to study reactions accurately.
to solve this problem, the research team adopted optical measurement techniques developed in the lab of Andrea Pickel, a visiting professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. They described this new approach in a study published in EES Catalysis.
“We learned from this study that depending on the type of chemistry,the temperature measured with these bulk readings can be off by 10 to 100 degrees Celsius,” says Porosoff. “That’s a really important difference in catalytic studies where you’re trying to ensure that measurements are reproducible and that multiple reactions can be coupled.”
Using this method, the team studied tandem catalyst systems in which heat released by one reaction is used to drive another reaction that requires heat input. Pairing these reactions more precisely can reduce wasted energy and improve overall efficiency in chemical processes.
Porosoff says this technique could also influence how catalysis research is conducted more broadly, leading to better measurements, stronger reproducibility, and more reliable results across the field.
References:
* “leveraging and understanding exotherms in tandem catalysts with in situ luminescence thermometry” by Sinhara M. H. D.perera, Benjamin Harrington, Adel Fadhul, Andrea D. Pickel and Marc D. porosoff, 15 December 2025, EES Catalysis. DOI: 10.1039/D5EY00319A
* “Achieving Phase Control of Polymorphic Tungsten Carbide Catalysts” by Sinhara M.H. D. Perera, Eva Ciuffetelli and Marc D. Porosoff, 5 january 2026, ACS Catalysis. DOI: 10.1021/acscatal.5c07774
* “Intrinsically Bifunctional and Tunable Tungsten Carbide Catalysts Enable Efficient PVC-Compatible Polyolefin Hydrocracking” by Uchenna C. Nwachukwu, Matthew J. Moegling, Sinhara M.H.D. Perera, Arsalaan Nisar Pathan, Jun Chen, Fereshteh Rezvani, Aswathi Rajeevan Vannante Valappil, Cong Zhou, Lamisa Rahman, Jian Liu, Sungmin Kim, James M.Eagan, Siddharth Deshpande, Marc D. Porosoff and Linxiao Chen, 17 December 2025, Journal of the American Chemical Society. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5c11845
The ACS Catalysis study received funding from the Sloan Foundation and the department of Energy.The Journal of the American chemical Society research was supported by the National Science Foundation.The EES Catalysis study was funded by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority through the Carbontech development Initiative.
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