Observation of spatiotemporal temperature-dependent catalytic activation within individual catalyst particle at work

Abstract Temperature distribution within individual catalyst particle, dominating the underlying reaction mechanism at local active sites, has seldom been studied in heterogeneous catalysis. Here, we propose to use the confocal two-photon microscopy, together with state-of-the-art upconversion luminescence (UL) imaging, to measure the spatiotemporal-resolved temperature within individual catalyst particle in industrially significant methanol-to-hydrocarbons reaction. Catalyst particles containing H-ZSM-5 zeolites and functional nano-thermometers were fabricated using micro-fluidic chips. It directly illustrates that the active-sites density and particle size can alter the temperature distribution within single catalyst particle. And the temperature heterogeneity plays a decisive role in the activation of hydrocarbon-pool species and utilization of active sites, as elucidated by combining structural illumination imaging, infrared microscopy and simulations. We expect this work opens a venue for unveiling reaction mechanism and kinetics within single catalyst particle of industrial interest by considering temperature heterogeneity.