@article{MoralesGertigKotetal.2025, author = {Morales, Carlos and Gertig, Max and Kot, Małgorzata and Alvarado, Carlos and Schubert, Markus Andreas and Zoellner, Marvin Hartwig and Wenger, Christian and Henkel, Karsten and Flege, Jan Ingo}, title = {In situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study of atomic layer deposited ceria on SiO₂ : substrate influence on the reaction mechanism during the early stages of growth}, series = {Advanced Materials Interfaces}, volume = {12}, journal = {Advanced Materials Interfaces}, number = {5}, publisher = {Wiley}, address = {Weinheim}, issn = {2196-7350}, doi = {10.1002/admi.202400537}, year = {2025}, abstract = {Thermal atomic layer deposition (ALD) of cerium oxide using commercial Ce(thd)4 precursor and O₃ on SiO₂ substrates is studied employing in-situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The system presents a complex growth behavior determined by the change in the reaction mechanism when the precursor interacts with the substrate or the cerium oxide surface. During the first growth stage, non-ALD side reactions promoted by the substrate affect the growth per cycle, the amount of carbon residue on the surface, and the oxidation degree of cerium oxide. On the contrary, the second growth stage is characterized by a constant growth per cycle in good agreement with the literature, low carbon residues, and almost fully oxidized cerium oxide films. This distinction between two growth regimes is not unique to the CeOx/SiO₂ system but can be generalized to other metal oxide substrates. Furthermore, the film growth deviates from the ideal layer-by-layer mode, forming micrometric inhomogeneous and defective flakes that eventually coalesce for deposit thicknesses above 10 nm. The ALD-cerium oxide films present less order and a higher density of defects than films grown by physical vapor deposition techniques, likely affecting their reactivity in oxidizing and reducing conditions.}, subject = {ALD; Cerium oxide; Growth model; In-situ; XPS}, language = {en} } @article{RichterRachowIsraeletal.2023, author = {Richter, Jana and Rachow, Fabian and Israel, Johannes and Roth, Norbert and Charlafti, Evgenia and G{\"u}nther, Vivien and Flege, Jan Ingo and Mauss, Fabian}, title = {Reaction mechanism development for methane steam reforming on a Ni/Al2O3 catalyst}, doi = {10.3390/catal13050884}, year = {2023}, abstract = {In this work, a reliable kinetic reaction mechanism was revised to accurately reproduce the detailed reaction paths of steam reforming of methane over a Ni/Al2O3 catalyst. A steadystate fixed-bed reactor experiment and a 1D reactor catalyst model were utilized for this task. The distinctive feature of this experiment is the possibility to measure the axially resolved temperature profile of the catalyst bed, which makes the reaction kinetics inside the reactor visible. This allows for understanding the actual influence of the reaction kinetics on the system; while pure gas concentration measurements at the catalytic reactor outlet show near-equilibrium conditions, the inhere presented temperature profile shows that it is insufficient to base a reaction mechanism development on close equilibrium data. The new experimental data allow for achieving much higher quality in the modeling efforts. Additionally, by carefully controlling the available active surface via dilution in the experiment, it was possible to slow down the catalyst conversion rate, which helped during the adjustment of the reaction kinetics. To assess the accuracy of the revised mechanism, a monolith experiment from the literature was simulated. The results show that the fitted reaction mechanism was able to accurately predict the experimental outcomes for various inlet mass flows, temperatures, and steam-to-carbon ratios.}, subject = {1D modeling; Reaction rates; Methane steam reforming; Fixed-bed reactor experiments; Nickel catalyst; 1D-Modellierung; Reaktionsgeschwindigkeiten; Methan-Dampfreformierung; Festbettreaktor-Experimente; Nickel-Katalysator; Katalysator; Reaktionsmechanismus; Festbettreaktor; Steamreforming; Reaktionsgeschwindigkeit}, language = {en} }