Catalysis-in-a-Box: Robotic Screening of Catalytic Materials in the Time of COVID-19 and Beyond

Summary

This work describes the design and implementation of an automated device for catalytic materials testing by direct modifications to a gas chromatograph (GC). The setup can be operated as a plug-flow isothermal reactor and enables the control of relevant parameters such as reaction temperature and reactant partial pressures directly from the GC. High-quality kinetic data (including reaction rates, product distributions, and activation barriers) can be obtained at almost one-tenth of the fabrication cost of analogous commercial setups. With these key benefits including automation, low cost, and limited experimental equipment instrumentation, this implementation is intended as a high-throughput catalyst screening reactor that can be readily utilized by materials synthesis researchers to assess the catalytic properties of their synthesized structures in vapor-phase chemistries.

Graphical Abstract

Highlights

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  Fabrication to convert a gas chromatograph to an automated micro-flow reactor

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  Setup operation possible under plug-flow hydrodynamics and isothermal conditions

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  Quality and reliability of kinetic data investigated and found satisfactory

Progress and Potential

Automation to reduce research labor is an important area in reaction engineering, and reactors capable of operating without manual intervention are sought for rapid catalyst testing. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic provides further impetus to a transition away from labor-intensive material testing techniques to new automated approaches without compromising on data quality, and at costs viable for academic laboratories. Here, we convert common analytical equipment employed in catalysis laboratories, namely a gas chromatograph (GC), into a low-cost packed bed flow reactor that can be operated isothermally. The quality of catalytic data is validated by comparisons with prior reports on more traditional reactors. Ultimately, this user-friendly implementation only requires limited additional instrumentation and cost to GC operation and puts a standardized high-throughput reactor into the hands of materials synthesis researchers for screening their synthesized catalysts.

Abstract

Through simple hardware and software modifications, it is possible to convert a typical gas chromatograph into an automated packed bed reactor capable of accurate kinetic measurements in vapor-phase catalytic chemistries. Such automation can potentially aid the collection and processing of a large amount of high-quality catalytic data in a manner that does not require constant human presence, allowing laboratories to run efficiently under strict work-place restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.