High throughput experimentation in heterogeneous catalysis provides an efficient solution to the generation of large datasets under reproducible conditions.

The effect of boundaries on pattern formation was studied for the catalytic oxidation of carbon monoxide on platinum surfaces. Photolithography was used to create microscopic reacting domains on polycrystalline foils and single-crystal platinum (110) surfaces with inert titanium overlayers. Certain domain geometries give rise to patterns that have not been observed on the untreated catalyst and bring to light surface mechanisms that have no analog in homogeneous reaction-diffusion systems.

The pace at which major technological changes take place is often dictated by the rate at which new materials are discovered, and the timely arrival of new materials has always played a key role in bringing advances to our society. It is no wonder then that the so-called combinatorial or high-throughput strategy has been embraced by practitioners of materials science in virtually every field. High-throughput experimentation allows simultaneous synthesis and screening of large arrays of different materials. Pioneered by the pharmaceutical industry, the combinatorial method is now widely considered to be a watershed in accelerating the discovery and optimization of new materials 1–5 .