Sensor Tool for Fast Catalyst Material Characterization

For the development of catalyst materials a novel sensor tool is presented. It can determine catalyst light-off temperatures. The device measures temperature changes (exothermicities) due to catalytic reactions of the material which is coated on a very small catalyst coating area directly on the sensor device. By temperature modulation via an integrated heater, light-off temperature characteristics can be determined within a few minutes. In the present contribution, the sensor setup is introduced and several experimental results for an exemplarily investigated Pt-loaded Al2O3 catalyst are shown with typical exhaust gas components and with mixtures of their components in a lean base gas atmosphere. Several typical findings are light-off hysteresis, CO poisoning, alkane light-off-behavior or acetylene poisoning.