| Abstract Scope |
Research into heterogeneous catalysis often relies on the assumption that a given metal or metal oxide catalyst are static for the sake of simplicity. However, through techniques like in-situ surface enhanced infrared spectroscopy, in-situ ellipsometry, and ex-situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, we have discovered that controlling the formation of copper oxides on a copper sheet can improve its conversion of CO2 by nearly an order of magnitude. Our work has demonstrated that the stability of a metal, metal oxide, or alloy cannot be decoupled from its catalytic performance, and the optimization of the speciation at the surface can greatly improve performance. |