No abstract

No abstract

The prevailing view of CO oxidation on gold-titanium oxide (Au/TiO(2)) catalysts is that the reaction occurs on metal sites at the Au/TiO(2) interface. We observed dual catalytic sites at the perimeter of 3-nanometer Au particles supported on TiO(2) during CO oxidation. Infrared-kinetic measurements indicate that O-O bond scission is activated by the formation of a CO-O(2) complex at dual Ti-Au sites at the Au/TiO(2) interface. Density functional theory calculations, which provide the activation barriers for the formation and bond scission of the CO-O(2) complex, confirm this model as well as the measured apparent activation energy of 0.16 electron volt. The observation of sequential delivery and reaction of CO first from TiO(2) sites and then from Au sites indicates that catalytic activity occurs at the perimeter of Au nanoparticles.

Microscopic evidence for Au-adatom-induced self-assembly of alkanethiolate species on the Au(111) surface is presented. Based on STM measurements and density-functional theory calculations, a new model for the low-coverage self-assembled monolayer of alkanethiolate on the Au(111) surface is developed, which involves the adsorbate complexes incorporating Au adatoms. It is also concluded that the Au(111) herringbone reconstruction is lifted by the alkanethiolate self-assembly because the reconstructed surface layer provides reactive Au adatoms that drive self-assembly.

No abstract