3D structured materials, especially monoliths have been used for decades in
the removal of pollutants in automotive and stationary stations, bulk chemical
production and so on. Their applications are expected to rise due to the ever growing
concern of global warming. Despite the clear advantages of using materials with a well
defined 3D structure, their implementation is often hindered by the absence of detailed
information of what happens inside the channels. SpaciMS is a minimum invasive
spatially resolved capillary-inlet mass spectroscopy system, often combined with other
analytical probes such as thin thermocouples. The probes can be positioned at multiple
axial and/or radial locations within the working monolith, enabling for the generation of
detailed spatio-temporal maps of the reactions and breakthrough fronts. This antagonist
approach from the conventional ‘end-pipe’ analysis which can be often misleading to
describe the internal behaviour of structured materials, offers the possibility to test the
validity of a pre-conceived kinetic and/or hydrodynamic model instead of the common
occurrence of fitting a model from ‘end-pipe’ measurements.
Keywords: SpaciMS, monolith, mass spectroscopy, catalyst, kinetic oscillations,
temporal resolution, spatial resolution, high sensitivity, operando, flux, model.
