Researchers at the Vienna University of Technology have incorporated a SEM into a vacuum chamber so that they can image Pd atoms on an iron oxide surface in real time. The Pd atoms are immobile but by adding a small amount of CO to the chamber, the Pd become mobile. The goal of the research is to improve the catalytic effect of Pd by 100 times. The results are published in Nature Materials article Carbon monoxide-induced adatom sintering in a Pd–Fe3O4 model catalyst and along with two movies S1 and S2.
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