Acid-base characterization of heterogeneous catalysts: an up-to-date overview

In this overview, we focus on the different and current methods of acid-base characterization of heterogeneous catalysts and on their potential relation with catalytic properties in gas and liquid phases. Special emphasis is drawn on the main techniques currently employed such as the use of Hammett's indicators, the use of basic or acidic probes of different strength for adsorption measurements in microcalorimetry and of their thermal programmed desorption, the use of other techniques such as FTIR, ESR, NMR, photoluminescence, Raman, UV-Vis, and XPS, to identify and describe acid-base sites, the use of model catalytic reactions, and of theoretical/modeling approaches. Relationships between such a characterization and catalytic properties in different acid or base reactions are discussed, and implemented for different catalysts and different reactions. The concept of thermodynamic acidity/basicity (determined via chemical physical characterization) versus reactivity (determined via catalytic properties) of acid-base sites is presented, and explains why relationships between acid-base properties and catalytic properties are very often met but are difficult to be established unambiguously and cannot be generalized. The case of acid-base properties in liquid phase polar (water, alcohol) and apolar (cyclohexane) as effective and intrinsic properties, respectively, and their relation with catalytic properties in liquid phase are also discussed.