The goal of this partnership is to create new catalysts for chemical reactions that are sustainable and help produce important chemicals and intermediates. Catalysts are essential substances that make chemical reactions happen more efficiently, and they are fundamental to many of the key processes that support our modern society. Without effective catalysts, many of the products and processes that we rely on would not be possible. At present, the chemical industry primarily uses fossil carbon sources like natural gas, oil, and coal. However, this approach is not sustainable in the long term, and it contributes to climate change and other environmental problems. As a result, researchers are looking for new ways to make chemicals that rely on green and sustainable carbon sources. Acetylene is one such molecule that has the potential to be an essential intermediate for a sustainable chemical industry. Acetylene chemistry was well developed over a century ago, but it was displaced as a central chemical intermediate by readily available ethene derived from oil. As a result, acetylene chemistry is currently an underexplored field. However, it is possible to produce acetylene from methane, which from biogas is a renewable source of carbon. Therefore, acetylene could become a crucial central intermediate for a new green chemical industry. We aim to design and understand catalysts based on Au, Pt, and AuPt that will act as a new class of catalysts to produce key chemicals and intermediates from acetylene. The partnership will bring together world-leading and complementary catalysis expertise, with the Cardiff Catalysis Institute (CCI collaborating with the UK Catalysis Hub (Harwell), the Max Planck Institute fur Kohlenforschung (KOFO, Mulheim), the Instituto de Tecnologia Quimica (ITQ), and the Fritz-Haber-Institute of the Max Planck Society (FHI, Berlin). A key benefit of this partnership is the additionality that it provides. By pooling expertise and resources, researchers can tackle grand challenge problems more effectively. The collaborative project brings together centres with unique and crucial expertise, such as the high-pressure facilities for acetylene catalysis at MPI KOFO, the fundamental surface science and advanced characterization techniques available at Harwell and FHI, the advanced computational methodologies of the FHI and the synthetic expertise concerning nanoparticles of ITQ. This partnership will enable UK researchers to access this expertise and cutting-edge facilities to tackle the complex challenge of making and characterizing new catalysts. The research will focus on gaining a fundamental understanding of what controls the activity of these catalysts in specific reactions, such as acetylene hydrochlorination and acetylene hydrogenation. Supported Au and Pt catalysts display a range of morphologies and often have individual atoms/cations, clusters, and nanoparticles. In some reactions, it is the well-dispersed Au+ cations that are active, while in others, nanoparticles are active. The research will seek to gain a deeper understanding of what controls the activity in these reactions and use this knowledge to design new and improved catalysts. To achieve these goals, we will use in situ/operando techniques and complementary capabilities available through the partnership to study these new catalysts. The team of experts assembled has worked together previously in various combinations, which will facilitate effective collaboration and communication. The ultimate goal of this partnership is to create new catalysts that will enable the sustainable production of important chemicals and intermediates, contributing to the development of a more sustainable and environmentally friendly chemical industry.

Catalysis is a core area of science that lies at the heart of the chemicals industry - an immensely successful and important part of the overall UK economy, where in recent years the UK output has totalled over £50B annually and is ranked 7th in the world. This position is being maintained in the face of immense competition worldwide. For the UK to sustain its leading position it is essential that innovation in research is maintained, to achieve which the UK Catalysis Hub was established in 2013; and has succeeded over the last four years in bringing together over 40 university groups for innovative and collaborative research programmes in this key area of contemporary science. The success of the Hub can be attributed to its inclusive and open ethos which has resulted in many groups joining its network since its foundation in 2013; to its strong emphasis on collaboration; and to its physical hub on the Harwell campus in close proximity to the Diamond synchrotron, ISIS neutron source and Central Laser Facility, whose successful exploitation for catalytic science has been a major feature of the recent science of the Hub. The next phase of the Catalysis Hub will build on this success and while retaining the key features and structure of the current hub will extend its programmes both nationally and internationally. The core activities to which the present proposal relates include our coordinating activities, comprising our influential and well attended conference, workshop and training programmes, our growing outreach and dissemination work as well as the core management functions. The core catalysis laboratory facilities within the research complex will also be maintained and developed and two key generic scientific and technical developments will be undertaken concerning first sample environment and high throughput capabilities especially relating to facilities experimentation; and secondly to data management and analysis. The core programme will coordinate the scientific themes of the Hub, which in the initial stages of the next phase will comprise: - Optimising, predicting and designing new catalysts - Water - energy nexus - Catalysis for the Circular Economy and Sustainable Manufacturing - Biocatalysis and biotransformations The Hub structure is intrinsically multidisciplinary including extensive input from engineering as well as science disciplines and with strong interaction and cross-fertilisation between the different themes. The thematic structure will allow the Hub to cover the major areas of current catalytic science