Chemical gradients in automotive Cu-SSZ-13 catalysts for NO$_{x}$ removal revealed by operando X-ray spectrotomography

NOx emissions are a major source of pollution, demanding ever improving performance from catalytic aftertreatment systems. However, catalyst development is often hindered by limited understanding of the catalyst at work, exacerbated by widespread use of model rather than technical catalysts, and global rather than spatially-resolved characterisation tools. Here we combine operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy with microtomography to perform 3D chemical imaging of the chemical state of copper species in a Cu-SSZ-13 washcoated monolith catalyst during NO$_{x}$ reduction. Gradients in copper oxidation state and coordination environment, resulting from an interplay of NOx reduction with adsorption-desorption of NH$_{3}$ and mass transport phenomena, were revealed with micrometre spatial resolution while simultaneously determining catalytic performance. Crucially, direct 3D visualisation of complex reactions on nonmodel catalysts is only feasible using operando X-ray spectrotomography, which can improve our understanding of structure-activity relationships including the observation of mass and heat transport effects.