Both in exhaust gas after-treatment and energy-related catalysis, such as the
conversion of synthesis gas to chemicals and fuels, more efficient and new catalysts
need to be designed. Usually, rather established catalyst preparation methods like
impregnation, (co)-precipitation, hydrothermal synthesis of zeolites and ion exchange
are used. For this purpose, a high output platform for catalyst synthesis (HOCATS) has
recently been established at KIT. With two case studies in bulk and environmental
chemistry we discuss that robot-controlled catalyst synthesis at medium throughput is
an attractive and promising approach if it is combined with efficient testing and
characterization. For the latter preferentially also parallel or automated tools are
required that still need to be further developed. In addition, deeper characterization of
the catalysts by advanced spectroscopic methods is required since heterogeneous
catalysts are typically very dynamic under reaction conditions. Finally, we emphasize
that an alternative approach to high throughput screening is the use of computational
screening using scaling relations and Brønsted-Evans-Polanyi relations.
Keywords: Energy-related catalysis, exhaust gas catalysis, synthesis gas, methanol
synthesis, preparation, high output, automation, parallel experimentation,
zeolites, characterization, basic chemicals, petrochemicals, structure-performance
relationships, computational screening, scaling relations, parallel characterization,
X-ray absorption spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, in situ spectroscopy.
