Facilities

Penn State hosts some of the most comprehensive catalytic materials preparation, characterization, and testing facilities in the world. Our flagship resource is the Materials Characterization Lab (MCL) an exceptionally well-equipped user facility developed and managed by Penn State’s Materials Research Institute. The MCL is staffed by dozens of research professionals, who also provide instrument training to graduate and undergraduate students. All research groups at Penn State have access to these facilities, individual research groups and MRI staff can help facilitate access for external users. Potential industrial partners should contact David Fecko, the MRI industry relations coordinator, at dlf5023@psu.edu or 814-865-6691 to initiate these conversations.

Individual research groups have wide-ranging, specialized catalyst testing capabilities based on current research interests and reaction requirements. This includes dozens of flow and batch reactors and wide-ranging pressure capabilities. We continue to develop our in-situ characterization facilities, allowing students to examine reaction intermediates and pathways with a variety of tools. Many research groups also specialize in a variety of characterization techniques and computational methods. Please browse individual faculty pages to explore the breadth of catalysis research capabilities at Penn State.

Many of the characterization techniques for catalysis-related research are detailed below. Each technique grouping includes a brief tutorial video to introduce new users to the technique and the staff specialist to contact for further information. Please browse these pages to get a feel for the capabilities available at Penn State, as well as our commitment to make these facilities accessible to students. A complete list of the techniques available in the MCL is also available here.

Featured techniques include but are not limited to:

• Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES)
• Electron Backscattered Diffractometry (EBSD)
• Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS)
• Electron Probe Microanalysis
• Electrical Characterization Lab
• Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR)
• Particle Size Analysis
• Raman Spectroscopy
• Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)
• Surface Area
• Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM)
• Thermal Analysis
• UV-Visible Spectroscopy
• X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy
• XRD / SAXS-WAXS

The Penn State Department of Chemistry similarly operates an extensive NMR user facility, which includes 300 MHz and 500 MHz solid state NMR spectrometers.