Correlating Fischer-Tropsch activity to Ru nanoparticle surface structure as probed by high-energy X-ray diffraction

Synchrotron X-ray diffraction coupled to atomic pair distribution function analysis and Reverse Monte Carlo simulations is used to determine the atomic-scale structure of Ru nanoparticle catalysts for the Fischer-Tropsch reaction. The rate of CO hydrogenation strongly correlates with the abundance of surface atoms with coordination numbers of 10 and 11. DFT calculations confirm that CO dissociation proceeds with a low barrier on these Ru surface atom ensembles.