Starting this year, the UK Catalysis hub has been awarded a block allocation grant (BAG) for time on the quasielastic neutron scattering (QENS) instrument, Iris, as QENS is an underused, but powerful, tool in catalysis research. To reduce the barrier to entry, proposals will be assessed by an internal Hub panel with a lighter touch than that required for a direct proposal to ISIS.
The hub has been given 18 days of beamtime over a three-year period, which has been split into periods of three days. The first of these has just been used by two researchers with no experience of QENS investigating different catalytic systems.
Matthew Brown from Cardiff University and Ashia McManus from the University of Southampton are both second year PhD students and had not met before their beamtime allocation.
Matthew is looking into the feasibility of using the material Georgeite as an alternative catalyst for the conversion of carbon dioxide into methanol. This rare mineral, which was first made synthetically by Cardiff researchers, has been shown to be an extremely efficient catalyst in the process used to produce hydrogen from water by the water gas shift reaction.
Matthew's experiment is one of the first to use neutrons to study Georgeite. “This access route not only lets me explore the possible capabilities of this material as a catalyst, but it's been good for my own development too," he explains.
Ashia is studying how catalysts can be used to prevent methane being released into the atmosphere from liquified natural gas (LNG) fuelled marine vessels. Building upon previous research, her PhD aims to improve the volume of methane that can be selectively captured and stored in porous, heterogenous catalysts.
“QENS is an ideal tool for studying methane adsorption," she says. “And this access route felt less daunting, almost like a stepping stone on the way to writing a full proposal."
The access route is not only unique in the way the time is allocated, but also by the way it brings together researchers for their experiments who had previously not met, encouraging collaborations between research groups.
Ian Silverwood is a beamline scientist on Iris and has close links with the Catalysis Hub. He will supervise the BAG experiments, providing training and support for the users. “This scheme is not only about encouraging use of QENS, but also about the training and getting more people involved in neutron science," he adds.
The next call for the UK Catalysis Hub BAG will open in the summer, and the Hub are keen to encourage users with no experience of QENS to apply, as support is provided throughout the process.
