Automotive catalysts have a general loss of activity during aging, basically due to two principal deactivation mechanisms. One of them is thermally induced “sintering,” which results in catalytic surface area reduction. The other is chemically induced “poisoning,” which in part causes blockage of active metal sites. The conventional bulk techniques have indicated that various catalyst functions were affected differently by poisons and thermal damage; however, they generally did not provide detailed descriptions of the mechanisms of deactivation. Only analytical electron microscopy (AEM) can provide microchemical and microstructural information to gain a more thorough and fundamental understanding of catalytic deactivation.Fresh and vehicle-aged commercial automotive catalysts containing Pt, Pd, and Rh on alumina supports were prepared for AEM by a microtomy technique, which retains the spatial integrity of the catalyst pellet with uniform thickness. Then these AEM specimens were characterized in a transmission electron microscope (TEM) and in a dedicated scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM).