ABSTRACT

I. INTRODUCTION Wetting is a prevalent issue in heterogeneous catalysis since a large number of catalysts involve the contact between two solid phases. Often the ease with which one solid wets another under specific pretreatment and

reaction conditions dictates the structure and, in turn, the catalytic behavior of the system. A common example is the change in the dispersion of supported metal catalysts through sintering and redispersion. In this case, wetting behavior affects the number of surface atoms available for catalysis. Another example is the wettability of one oxide onto another, as the chemical reactivity is often different between a dispersed surface phase and supported bulk phase.