Viewpoint pubs.acs.org/JPCC
Cite This: J. Phys. Chem. C 2017, 121, 23852-23852
New Physical Insights in Experimental Studies in Catalysis
C
examples. It is clear that new physical insights can encompass novel and insightful work on catalytic reactions mechanisms, and for heterogeneous catalysts, research on the nature of the active site, support effects, and structure function relationships have yielded many new physical insights, and promise more. While we generally do not find manuscripts that focus solely on new experimental techniques desirable, the application of new techniques and/or approaches often opens up new possibilities for research in a field, and this is certainly the case in catalysis research. For example, operando probes of reactions and catalysts are increasing our understanding of catalytic systems under realistic operating conditions. A host of new experimental techniques and methodologies have been developed that are now being employed to obtain a more detailed understanding of the structure of catalysts and/or fundamental details as to how and why catalysts function. Two such areas involve X-ray techniques and advances in microscopy. Increasingly, the data new techniques provide are at a molecular and/or atomic level, which can encompass information on how the structure of the catalyst affects the chemistry taking place. This type of information is an example of material that is often a desired component of papers we seek to publish. Though this Viewpoint focuses on experimental studies of catalysis, theory can be a critical component of experimental studies. It can be used to inform the experimentalist as to what are optimum target systems for study. Theory can help explain experimental results, often providing molecular level insights that could not be drawn solely from experimental data. Indeed, the number of manuscripts in the area of catalytic research that contain integrated experimental and theoretical components is increasing. I view this as a very desirable trend that is likely to become more common and provide a more comprehensive picture of catalysts and catalytic systems. I hope the readers of The Journal of Physical Chemistry find this Viewpoint informative.
atalysis is an area of enormous industrial importance that has also been of scientific interest for more than 150 years.1 As a consequence, some aspects of catalysis research are viewed from the editorial perspective of The Journal of Physical Chemistry as being mature, while others are viewed as developing, or even in their infancy. Of course, “mature” and “infancy” are the ends of a continuum. This situation can make it difficult for authors to draw a clear distinction between topics and studies that would be viewed as reporting on significant new fundamental physical insights, and thus be appropriate for publication in The Journal of Physical Chemistry, and those that would be considered too focused on incremental progress in a field of work to be of interest to The Journal of Physical Chemistry. In this Viewpoint I will try to elaborate on and clarify what a Journal of Physical Chemistry Senior Editor views as new fundamental physical insights in the area of experimental research in catalysis. As progress is made in a scientific field, such as catalysis, or a subfield of catalysis research, greater understanding of the underlying principles behind physical phenomena of interest leads to an elevation of the “bar” for what is viewed as a significant new physical insight. Thus, the criteria I use for determining whether a manuscript is potentially suitable for The Journal of Physical Chemistry, and should be sent out for review, are dynamic and vary within different subfields of catalysis. Clearly, the characterization and performance of a catalyst are both central issues. Superior performance, including, for example, enhanced turnover frequency and improved selectivity, are parameters that will likely be critical to end users of any catalyst and are often objectives in catalysis research. However, although careful and complete characterization of a catalyst is crucial to other researchers being able to reproduce a catalyst, the preparation and routine characterization of a catalyst, even if it is a new catalyst, is generally not sufficient to make a manuscript focused on that topic suitable for The Journal of Physical Chemistry. Similarly, a report of enhanced operational characteristics for a catalyst, though obviously desirable from the perspective of a practical catalyst, is not what we seek. Along these same lines, manuscripts that explain observations regarding the structure, activity, and/or mechanism of operation of a catalyst, or a catalytic system, simply by reference to and/or analogy with previously published work are also unlikely to be desirable. So what do we look for in a manuscript? The key criteria that may lead to a manuscript being desirable for publication in The Journal of Physical Chemistry are that the reported work is novel and it provides “new” insights into the physical principles behind the operation of catalysts and/or the catalytic reactions under study. Of course, these principles may have different foci in, for example, heterogeneous versus homogeneous catalysis or in photocatalysis or electrocatalysis. A manuscript should also be broad enough in scope that it will be of interest to a significant fraction of our readers, particularly those in the field of catalysis. I emphasize that “new” can come in many forms, and I offer a few illustrative, but by no means exhaustive, © 2017 American Chemical Society
■
Eric Weitz,* Senior Editor
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*E-mail:
[email protected]. Notes
The author declares no competing financial interest.
■
REFERENCES
(1) Lindström, B.; Pettersson, L. J. CATTECH: The Magazine of Catalysis Sciences. CATTECH 2003, 7, 130−138.
Published: November 2, 2017 23852
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.7b09354 J. Phys. Chem. C 2017, 121, 23852−23852
