Decomposition of Carbon Tetrachloride on Gold Surfaces

Abstract

Banned for already 20 years, carbon tetrachloride is still used industrially. The ingestion of the halogen compound (inhalation, dermal contact, drinking) is known to induce serious damage to the liver, for which gold particles might represent one of the most efficient treatment. Here, using the temperature-programmed desorption technique, we show that carbon tetrachloride is decomposed by a polycrystalline gold surface producing Cl 2 at a minimum rate of 25% of the deposited molecules. The adsorption and decomposition explored via density functional theory (DFT) periodic calculations show that a cooperative decomposition of a pairwise CCl 4 is energetically favorable on the (110) surface. Our results may contribute to develop better strategies for optimizing the design of gold nanosurfaces and improve the efficiency of the treatment of the hepatotoxicity induced by carbon tetrachloride.

Photocatalytic dehydrative etherification of alcohols with a nanoporous gold catalyst

“…It was recently reported that CCl 4 produces Cl 2 on a polycrystalline gold surface. 22 To determine the influence of CCl 4 , AuNPore was analysed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and the survey spectra of the following three samples are shown in Fig. 3A: (a) fresh catalyst, (b) used catalyst before washing, and (c) refreshed catalyst after washing with H 2 O 2 /NaOH.…”