ABSTRACT
Combinatorial or high-throughput approaches toward the synthesis and performance evaluation of solids are gaining increasing interest over the last ten years [1-3]. While initially the work focused primarily on optical and electronic properties, recently attention has shifted more toward catalysis. Requirements for both types of applications, however, are rather different. While for optical and electronic properties most often a perfect bulk structure is desired, where
“DK3029_C012” — #2
grain boundaries and other defects may mask the bulk behavior, in catalysis it is often the defect structure that determines the performance of a material. Synthesis procedures for both types of applications therefore may differ strongly. Whatever the desired application is, however, it is always mandatory that the synthesis of the material is highly reproducible. Since samples are often prepared in minute amounts in a high-throughput program, full analysis is almost impossible. If a “hit” is identified in a later screen, one has to be able to reproduce the sample and to scale-up the synthesis.
