Dynamic Investigation of Mechanism of Catalytic Reactions as Revealed by Spectroscopic Techniques

The study of chemisorption of gases on catalyst surfaces is of primary importance in elucidating the mechanism of heterogeneous catalysis. Accordingly, the adsorption of each of the gases which participate in the catalysis has been studied separately in many cases. However, chemisorption on the catalyst surface during the progress of reaction, generally speaking, cannot be estimated from the adsorption equilibrium of reactants and products measured separately for each species, but depends upon the mechanism of the reaction, the interaction among the adsorbed species, the formation of reaction intermediates or surface complexes, and the area of active region on the surface.