Surface Catalysis and Scanning Probe Microscopy Techniques

Surface catalysis harnesses the unique reactivity of solid interfaces to accelerate chemical transformations essential for industrial processes, energy conversion and environmental protection. Catalytic materials such as metals, metal oxides and supported nanoparticles present exposed sites where reactants adsorb, dissociate and recombine. The geometric and electronic structure of these sites dictates activity, selectivity and stability, making atomic-scale insight into surface composition and morphology a prerequisite for rational catalyst design. Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) techniques, notably scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), provide real-time access to surface features with sub-nanometre resolution. By rastering a sharp tip across a sample under controlled conditions, SPM reveals topographical maps and local electronic states, enabling direct observation of adsorbate configurations, defect dynamics and catalytic intermediates. Recent innovations—such as high-speed controllers, advanced image reconstruction algorithms and atom-tracking routines—have broken the temporal barrier, capturing dynamic events like adatom diffusion, surface restructuring under reactive atmospheres and individual turnover events at active sites. The synergy between surface catalysis and SPM underpins a feedback loop in which experimental visualisation informs theoretical models, and predictive simulations guide catalyst engineering. This integrated approach accelerates the development of catalysts for carbon dioxide valorisation, selective hydrogenation and electrocatalysis, contributing to sustainable chemical manufacturing, cleaner energy technologies and reduced environmental impact.

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Researchers have elucidated the mechanism of direct phenol carboxylation on zirconia surfaces, revealing that CO₂ binds strongly by chemisorption while phenol remains physisorbed in proximity. The reaction proceeds via an Eley–Rideal pathway, and activity is confined to a single crystalline phase of ZrO₂. This insight provides a foundation for rational design of oxide catalysts in the synthesis of value-added aromatic acids and underlines the importance of surface geometry in achieving selectivity.

An innovative field-programmable gate array (FPGA) based controller has been integrated into commercial SPM instruments to accelerate image acquisition by orders of magnitude. By orchestrating parallelised control and data processing, the system enables true atom-tracking through rapid feedback loops. The improvement in temporal resolution allows direct monitoring of rapid surface processes, such as adatom migration and catalyst restructuring under changing gas atmospheres, bridging the gap between static imaging and real-time kinetics.

A multiscale wavelet algorithm has been developed to extract atomic trajectories from high-speed STM movies. The method decomposes images into discrete wavelet planes, filters noise and reconstructs particle masks with sub-ångström precision. Linking successive frames yields detailed tracks of individual adsorbates on metal surfaces, facilitating quantitative studies of diffusion pathways, reaction events and adsorbate-substrate interactions in conditions where conventional analysis fails.

Surface Catalysis and Scanning Probe Microscopy Techniques publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in surface catalysis and scanning probe microscopy techniques across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Surface catalysis: Acceleration of chemical reactions at the interface between a solid catalyst and reactants.

Scanning probe microscopy (SPM): A family of techniques that obtain surface images by scanning a fine probe over a sample at close proximity.

Eley–Rideal mechanism: A surface reaction in which a gas-phase molecule reacts directly with an adsorbed species without first equilibrating on the surface.

Chemisorption: Strong binding of a molecule to a surface via chemical bonds, often involving electron transfer.

Physisorption: Weak, non-covalent adsorption of a molecule to a surface, governed by van der Waals forces.

Field-programmable gate array (FPGA): A reconfigurable integrated circuit used to implement customised, parallel processing for control and data acquisition.

Wavelet transform: A mathematical technique that decomposes data into components at multiple scales, enabling noise suppression and feature extraction in images.

References

1. Unveiling the phenol direct carboxylation reaction mechanism at ZrO2 surface. Molecular Catalysis (2024).
2. Design of an FPGA-Based Controller for Fast Scanning Probe Microscopy. Sensors (2024).
3. A multiscale wavelet algorithm for atom tracking in STM movies. New Journal of Physics (2022).