The process of catalysis—in which a material speeds up a chemical reaction—is crucial to the production of many of the ...

The usual explanation for how catalysts work is that they lower the activation energy of a reaction, which in turn increases the rate of the reaction. That’s fine as far as it goes, and probably ...

A new way to watch catalytic reactions happen at the molecular level in real time could lead to better fundamental ...

Chemists and chemical engineers at California Institute of Technology, working with a pair of colleagues from the University ...

Held in place by the sponge, the separate catalysts work in harmony. Without isolation of the catalytically active species in this way, the reaction did not proceed and no product was obtained, they ...

The catalyst works by opening up a route between starting material and product with a lower activation barrier than the uncatalyzed process. In nature, catalytic functions are typically restricted ...

A new way to watch catalytic reactions happen at the molecular level in real time could lead to better fundamental understanding and planning of the important reactions used in countless manufacturing ...

The work is reported in the journal, Angewandte Chemie. It could eventually help engineers tune reactions better and develop new catalysts that don’t rely on expensive precious and rare earth ...