Platinum dispersed on γ-alumina is used as a reforming catalyst to convert linear hydrocarbons to cyclic aromatic products. To improve selectivity and lifetime of the catalyst, other elements are included, and we have studied the distributions of Pt/Re, and Pt/Sn, bimetallic systems on the support both before and after use in octane reforming. Often, one or both of the components are not resolvable by HREM or microanalysis as individual particles because of small size and lack of contrast on the alumina, and divergent beam microanalysis has been used to establish the presence and relationship between the two elements.In the majority of catalysts the platinum is in the form of small panicles, some of which are large enough to be resolvable in the microscope. The ABT002B microscope with Link windowless Pentafet detector, used in this work, was able to obtain a resolvable signal from particles of 2nm diameter upwards. When the beam was concentrated on to such a particle the signal was at a maximum, and as the beam diameter was diverged - at the same total beam intensity and dead time - the signal decreased as shown in Figure 1.
