• Catalight─An Open-Source Autom...

*Result*: Catalight─An Open-Source Automated Photocatalytic Reactor Package Illustrated through Plasmonic Acetylene Hydrogenation.

Title:
Catalight─An Open-Source Automated Photocatalytic Reactor Package Illustrated through Plasmonic Acetylene Hydrogenation.
Authors:
Bourgeois BB; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, 450 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford, California 94305, United States., Dai AX; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, 450 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford, California 94305, United States., Carlin CC; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, 450 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford, California 94305, United States., Yuan L; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, 450 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford, California 94305, United States., Al-Zubeidi A; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, 450 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford, California 94305, United States., Cheng WH; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Cheng Kung University No. 1, Dasyue Rd, East District, Tainan City 701, Taiwan., Swearer DF; Department of Chemistry and Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Northwestern University 633 Clark Street, Evanston, Illinois 60208, United States., Dionne JA; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, 450 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford, California 94305, United States.
Source:
The journal of physical chemistry. A [J Phys Chem A] 2025 Jul 10; Vol. 129 (27), pp. 6170-6178. Date of Electronic Publication: 2025 Jun 29.
Publication Type:
Journal Article
Language:
English
Journal Info:
Publisher: American Chemical Society Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 9890903 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1520-5215 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 10895639 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Phys Chem A Subsets: MEDLINE; PubMed not MEDLINE
Imprint Name(s):
Original Publication: Washington, D.C. : American Chemical Society, c1997-
Entry Date(s):
Date Created: 20250630 Latest Revision: 20250710
Update Code:
20260130
DOI:
10.1021/acs.jpca.5c02883
PMID:
40583445
Database:
MEDLINE

*Further Information*

*An open-source and modular Python package, Catalight, is developed and demonstrated to automate (photo)catalysis measurements. (Photo)catalysis experiments require studying several parameters to evaluate performance, including the temperature, gas flow rate and composition, illumination power, and spectral profile. Catalight orchestrates measurements over this complicated parameter space and systematically stores, analyzes, and visualizes the results. To showcase the capabilities of Catalight, we perform an automated apparent activation barrier measurement of acetylene hydrogenation over a plasmonic AuPd catalyst on an Al<subscript>2</subscript>O<subscript>3</subscript> support, simultaneously varying laser power, wavelength, and temperature in a multiday experiment controlled by a simple Python script. Our chemical results unexpectedly show an increased activation barrier upon light excitation, contrary to previous findings for other plasmonic reactions and catalysts. We show that the reaction rate order with respect to both acetylene and hydrogen remains unchanged upon illumination, suggesting that molecular surface coverage is not changed by light. By analyzing the inhomogeneity of the laser-induced heating, we attribute these results to a partial photothermal effect combined with a photochemical/hot electron-driven mechanism. Our findings highlight the capabilities of a new experiment automation tool; explore the photocatalytic mechanism for an industrially relevant reaction; and identify systematic sources of error in canonical photocatalysis experimental procedures.*