Abstract
The development of novel catalysts, which would be highly efficient yet affordable, is a crucial prerequisite in many fields of industry, including the currently hot area of harvesting clean energy with, for example, fuel cell technology. Optimisation of the design of such catalytic materials demands fundamental research to understand all of the involved surface processes and their elementary steps at the atomic scale.
Although the current realms of surface science and practical catalysis have a lot in common, they are still separated by materials and pressure gaps. A combination of multiple advanced analytical methods in situ, application of theoretical models, and particularly the recent emergence of so-called in operando techniques provides a successful strategy in bridging these gaps.