What is a Catalyst?
Catalysis is the process of making chemical reactions happen faster by adding things called catalysts. The catalyst is not used up during the reaction, and it stays the same afterward. Most of the time, only a small amount of catalyst is needed.
General Introduction
A key idea is that of the activity and selectivity of a catalyst. In nature, a catalytic surface is usually not doing anything. When a reactant sticks to the surface of a catalyst, it makes the catalyst work. This starts the process of reaction all over again. Catalysts are very specific, which means that something that is a catalyst, for one thing, can be an inhibitor for something else. With the same set of reactants, some catalysts make different things than other catalysts.
Activity of Catalyst
Catalysts can speed up the rate at which reactions happen. This ability of a catalyst is called its “activity.” It depends on whether the reactants stick to the surface of the catalyst or not. Chemisorption is the main thing that controls how catalysts work. When the reactants stick to the catalytic surface, the bond that forms between them must not be too strong or too weak.
It must be strong enough to make the catalyst work, but not so strong that the reactant molecules get stuck on the surface of the catalyst and there is no more room for new reactants to stick to it. In general, the catalytic activity of the hydrogenation reaction goes up from Group 5 to Group 11 metals. The elements in groups 7-9 of the periodic table are the ones with the most catalytic activity.
Selectivity of Catalyst
Catalysts are very specific kinds of chemicals. They can control the reaction so that it makes a certain thing. If the same reactants are used but a different catalyst is used, different products may be made. This is called a catalyst’s “selectivity.” In nature, catalysts are very selective.
They can speed up a certain reaction while slowing down another. So, we can say that a certain catalyst can only speed up one reaction. It might not be enough to start another reaction of the same kind. For example, when hydrogen and carbon monoxide react, using nickel as a catalyst makes methane, using a mixture of zinc oxide and chromium oxide makes methanol, and using only copper as a catalyst makes methanal.
Types of catalysts
A catalyst is a chemical compound that speeds up a reaction by lowering the activation energy barrier of the reaction. It isn’t eaten during the reaction.
Homogeneous catalyst: Homogeneous catalysts are usually soluble metal salts or compounds that are dissolved in an effective organic solvent that is used as the reaction medium. (In this case, the reactants and the catalyst are on the same phase)
Heterogeneous catalyst: A heterogeneous catalyst is a material that is useful and, when it reacts with its reactants, keeps making new active sites. (In this case, the catalyst and the reactants are in separate phases)
Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs
Q.1 What does it mean to be catalytic?
When a catalyst is present, the rate of a chemical reaction goes up. A number that tells how much faster a reaction is happening because of a catalyst.
Q.2 How do you measure catalytic activity?
Most of the time, the catalytic activities of nanozymes are calculated by finding the slope of the linear part of the original nanozyme reaction curve. The ratio of a nanozyme’s catalytic activity to its mass is a straight line.
Q.3 What is the purpose of a catalyst?
A catalyst is something that can be added to a mixture to speed up a reaction without being used up in the process. Most of the time, catalysts speed up a reaction by changing the structure of the reaction in a way that lowers the activation energy.
Q.4 What is a catalyst in a chemical reaction?
In chemistry, a catalyst is any substance that speeds up a reaction without being used up in the process. Enzymes are important biochemical catalysts that speed up important biochemical reactions.
Q.5 What do you mean when you say that a catalyst is “active” and “selective”?
The activity of a catalyst is how well it speeds up a given reaction. Chemisorption is the main thing that determines how active a catalyst is. The ability of a catalyst to steer a reaction so that only one product is made is called its selectivity.
