Automated tools to accelerate catalyst screening and discovery

Due to its peculiar properties and strong interaction with noble metals, ceria is widely used as a catalyst support for numerous applications. In this work, morphologically pure and highly crystalline ceria nanocubes and nanorods were prepared to systematically investigate both the impact of the support morphology and Pd–Pt interaction degree on the noble metal-support interplay during CO oxidation.

We report an automated strategy to conduct RAFT copolymerizations using a Chemspeed robotic platform capable of executing batch, incremental, and continuous monomer addition workflows under inert conditions. Copolymerizations of oligo(ethylene glycol) acrylate with benzyl acrylate (as a control) and fluorescein o-acrylate were conducted in toluene, THF, and DMF, with reaction progress monitored via ¹H NMR spectroscopy at defined intervals.

Photocatalysis enables valuable reactions such as synthetic transformations or energy conversion processes like water splitting. To rationally improve photocatalytic reactions, mechanistic insights are required. These can be obtained with kinetic measurements, which are, however, difficult to obtain for a large enough number of reaction conditions to provide systematic and valuable insights.