The group of Martin Muhler focuses on the elucidation of reaction mechanisms in hetero­geneously catalysed redox reactions both in the gas phase and in the liquid phase. Based on a long-lasting collaboration with the Schuhmann group, these investigations have been extended to carbon-supported electrocatalysts applied in fuel cell/ electrolyser catalysis and alcohol oxidation. The group has long-standing experience performing steady-state and transient kinetic experiments combined with spectroscopic methods such as FTIR and photoelectron spectroscopy.

For TP7 the main task is to identify reaction mechanisms of different reactions like the ammonia oxidation or the oxidative carbonylation for different catalysts by applying ATR-IR spectroscopy. In addition to the identification of solvated species, it is planned to develop surface-sensitive ATR-IR measurements, where the electrochemical reaction conditions are similar to RDEs and flow-through cells.