Formation, Migration, and Reactivity of Au-CO Complexes on Gold Surfaces.

We report experimental as well as theoretical evidence that suggests Au-CO complex formation upon the exposure of CO to active sites (step edges and threading dislocations) on a Au(111) surface. Room-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, transmission infrared spectroscopy, and density functional theory calculations point to Au-CO complex formation and migration. Room-temperature STM of the Au(111) surface at CO pressures in the range from 10(-8) to 10(-4) Torr (dosage up to 10(6) langmuir) indicates Au atom extraction from dislocation sites of the herringbone reconstruction, mobile Au-CO complex formation and diffusion, and Au adatom cluster formation on both elbows and step edges on the Au surface. The formation and mobility of the Au-CO complex result from the reduced Au-Au bonding at elbows and step edges leading to stronger Au-CO bonding and to the formation of a more positively charged CO (CO(δ+)) on Au. Our studies indicate that the mobile Au-CO complex is involved in the Au nanoparticle formation and reactivity, and that the positive charge on CO increases due to the stronger adsorption of CO at Au sites with lower coordination numbers.

Electric field changes on Au nanoparticles on semiconductor supports--the molecular voltmeter and other methods to observe adsorbate-induced charge-transfer effects in Au/TiO2 nanocatalysts.

Infrared (IR) studies of Au/TiO2 catalyst particles indicate that charge transfer from van der Waals-bound donor or acceptor molecules on TiO2 to or from Au occurs via transport of charge carriers in the semiconductor TiO2 support. The ΔνCO on Au is shown to be proportional to the polarizability of the TiO2 support fully covered with donor or acceptor molecules, producing a proportional frequency shift in νCO. Charge transfer through TiO2 is associated with the population of electron trap sites in the bandgap of TiO2 and can be independently followed by changes in photoluminescence intensity and by shifts in the broad IR absorbance region for electron trap sites, which is also proportional to the polarizability of donors by IR excitation. Density functional theory calculations show that electron transfer from the donor molecules to TiO2 and to supported Au particles produces a negative charge on the Au, whereas the transfer from the Au particles to the TiO2 support into acceptor molecules results in a positive charge on the Au. These changes along with the magnitudes of the shifts are consistent with the Stark effect. A number of experiments show that the ∼3 nm Au particles act as "molecular voltmeters" in influencing ΔνCO. Insulator particles, such as SiO2, do not display electron-transfer effects to Au particles on their surface. These studies are preliminary to doping studies of semiconductor-oxide particles by metal ions which modify Lewis acid/base oxide properties and possibly strongly modify the electron-transfer and catalytic activity of supported metal catalyst particles.

Insights into catalytic oxidation at the Au/TiO(2) dual perimeter sites.

Gold (Au) nanoparticles supported on reducible oxides such as TiO2 demonstrate exceptional catalytic activity for a wide range of gas phase oxidation reactions such as CO oxidation, olefin epoxidation, and water gas shift catalysis. Scientists have recently shifted their hypotheses on the origin of the reactivity of these materials from the unique electronic properties and under-coordinated Au sites on nanometer-sized particles to bifunctional sites at the Au-support interface. In this Account, we summarize our recent experimental and theoretical results to provide insights into the active sites and pathways that control oxidation over Au/TiO2 catalysts. We provide transmission IR spectroscopic data that show the direct involvement of the Au-Ti(4+) dual perimeter sites, and density functional theory results that connect the electronic properties at these sites to their reactivity and to plausible reaction mechanisms. We also show the importance of interfacial Au-Ti(4+) sites in adsorbing and activating O2 as a result of charge transfer from the Au into antibonding states on O2 causing di-σ interactions with interfacial Au-Ti(4+) sites. This results in apparent activation energies for O2 activation of 0.16-0.60 eV thus allowing these materials to operate over a wide range of temperatures (110-420 K) and offering the ability also to control H-H, C-H, and C-O bond scission. At low temperatures (100-130 K), adsorbed O2 directly reacts with co-adsorbed CO or H2. In addition, we observe the specific consumption of CO adsorbed on TiO2. The more strongly held CO/Au species do not react at ∼120 K due to high diffusion barriers that prevent them from reaching active interfacial sites. At higher temperatures, O2 directly dissociates to form active oxygen adatoms (O*) on Au and TiO2. These readily react with bound hydrocarbon intermediates via base-catalyzed nucleophilic attack on unsaturated C═O and C═C bonds or via activation of weakly acidic C-H or O-H bonds. We demonstrate that when the active Au-Ti(4+) sites are pre-occupied by O*, the low temperature CO oxidation rate is reduced by a factor 22. We observe similar site blocking for H2 oxidation by O2, where the reaction at 210 K is quenched by ice formation. At higher temperatures (400-420 K), the O* generated at the perimeter sites is able to diffuse onto the Au particles, which then activate weakly acidic C-H bonds and assist in C-O bond scission. These sites allow for active conversion of adsorbed acetate intermediates on TiO2 (CH3COO/TiO2) to a gold ketenylidene species (Au2═C═C═O). The consecutive C-H bond scission steps appear to proceed by the reaction with basic O* or OH* on the Au sites and C-O bond activation occurs at the Au-Ti(4+) dual perimeter sites. There is a bound-intermediate transfer from the TiO2 support to the Au sites during the course of reaction as the reactant (CH3COO/TiO2) and the product (Au2═C═C═O) are bound to different sites. We demonstrate that IR spectroscopy is a powerful tool to follow surface catalytic reactions and provide kinetic information, while theory provides atomic scale insights into the mechanisms and the active sites that control catalytic oxidation.

Selective catalytic oxidative-dehydrogenation of carboxylic acids-acrylate and crotonate formation at the Au/TiO2 interface.

The oxidative-dehydrogenation of carboxylic acids to selectively produce unsaturated acids at the second and third carbons regardless of alkyl chain length was found to occur on a Au/TiO2 catalyst. Using transmission infrared spectroscopy (IR) and density functional theory (DFT), unsaturated acrylate (H2C═CHCOO) and crotonate (CH3CH═CHCOO) were observed to form from propionic acid (H3CCH2COOH) and butyric acid (H3CCH2CH2COOH), respectively, on a catalyst with ∼3 nm diameter Au particles on TiO2 at 400 K. Desorption experiments also show gas phase acrylic acid is produced. Isotopically labeled (13)C and (12)C propionic acid experiments along with DFT calculated frequency shifts confirm the formation of acrylate and crotonate. Experiments on pure TiO2 confirmed that the unsaturated acids were not produced on the TiO2 support alone, providing evidence that the sites for catalytic activity are at the dual Au-Ti(4+) sites at the nanometer Au particles' perimeter. The DFT calculated energy barriers between 0.3 and 0.5 eV for the reaction pathway are consistent with the reaction occurring at 400 K on Au/TiO2.

Surface chemistry: key to control and advance myriad technologies.

This special issue on surface chemistry is introduced with a brief history of the field, a summary of the importance of surface chemistry in technological applications, a brief overview of some of the most important recent developments in this field, and a look forward to some of its most exciting future directions. This collection of invited articles is intended to provide a snapshot of current developments in the field, exemplify the state of the art in fundamental research in surface chemistry, and highlight some possibilities in the future. Here, we show how those articles fit together in the bigger picture of this field.

Hybridization of phenylthiolate- and methylthiolate-adatom species at low coverage on the Au(111) surface.

Using scanning tunneling microscopy we observed reaction products of two chemisorbed thiolate species, methylthiolate and phenylthiolate, on the Au(111) surface. Despite the apparent stability, organometallic complexes of methyl- and phenylthiolate with the gold-adatom (RS-Au-SR, with R as the hydrocarbon group) undergo a stoichiometric exchange reaction, forming hybridized CH3S-Au-SPh complexes. Complementary density functional theory calculations suggest that the reaction is most likely mediated by a monothiolate RS-Au complex bonded to the gold surface, which forms a trithiolate RS-Au-(SR)-Au-SR complex as a key intermediate. This work therefore reveals the novel chemical reactivity of the low-coverage "striped" phase of alkanethiols on gold and strongly points to the involvement of monoadatom thiolate intermediates in this reaction. By extension, such intermediates may be involved in the self-assembly process itself, shedding new light on this long-standing problem.

Experimental and theoretical comparison of gas desorption energies on metallic and semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes.

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) exhibit high surface areas and precisely defined pores, making them potentially useful materials for gas adsorption and purification. A thorough understanding of the interactions between adsorbates and SWNTs is therefore critical to predicting adsorption isotherms and selectivities. Metallic (M-) and semiconducting (S-) SWNTs have extremely different polarizabilities that might be expected to significantly affect the adsorption energies of molecules. We experimentally and theoretically show that this expectation is contradicted, for both a long chain molecule (n-heptane) and atoms (Ar, Kr, and Xe). Temperature-programmed desorption experiments are combined with van der Waals corrected density functional theory, examining adsorption on interior and exterior sites of the SWNTs. Our calculations show a clear dependence of the adsorption energy on nanotube diameter but not on whether the tubes are conducting or insulating. We find no significant experimental or theoretical difference in adsorption energies for molecules adsorbed on M- and S-SWNTs having the same diameter. Hence, we conclude that the differences in polarizabilities between M- and S-SWNTs have a negligible influence on gas adsorption for spherical molecules as well as for highly anisotropic molecules such as n-heptane. We expect this conclusion to apply to all types of adsorbed molecules where van der Waals interactions govern the molecular interaction with the SWNT.

Is there a difference in van der Waals interactions between rare gas atoms adsorbed on metallic and semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes?

The differences in the polarizabilities of metallic (M) and semiconducting (S) single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) might give rise to differences in adsorption potentials. We show from experiments and van der Waals--corrected density functional theory that the binding energies of Xe adsorbed on M- and S-SWNTs are nearly identical. Temperature programed desorption experiments of Xe on purified M- and S-SWNTs give similar peak temperatures, indicating that desorption kinetics and binding energies are independent of the type of SWNT. Binding energies computed from vdW-corrected density functional theory are in good agreement with experiments.

Isotope effect in the photochemical decomposition of CO2 (ice) by Lyman-α radiation.

The photochemical decomposition of CO2(ice) at 75 K by Lyman-α radiation (10.2 eV) has been studied using transmission infrared spectroscopy. An isotope effect in the decomposition of the CO2 molecule in the ice has been discovered, favoring (12)CO2 photodecomposition over (13)CO2 by about 10%. The effect is caused by electronic energy transfer from the excited CO2 molecule to the ice matrix, which favors quenching of the heavier electronically-excited (13)CO2 molecule over (12)CO2. The effect is similar to the Menzel-Gomer-Redhead isotope effect in desorption from adsorbed molecules on surfaces when electronically excited. An enhancement of the rate of formation of lattice-trapped CO and CO3 species is observed for the photolysis of the (12)CO2 molecule compared to the (13)CO2 molecule in the ice. Only 0.5% of the primary photoexcitation results in O-CO bond dissociation to produce trapped-CO and trapped-CO3 product molecules and the majority of the electronically-excited CO2 molecules return to the ground state. Here either vibrational relaxation occurs (majority process) or desorption of CO2 occurs (minority process) from highly vibrationally-excited CO2 molecules in the ice. The observation of the (12)C∕(13)C isotope effect in the Lyman-α induced photodecomposition of CO2 (ice) suggests that over astronomical time scales the isotope enrichment effect may distort historical information derived from isotope ratios in space wherever photochemistry can occur.

Lyman-α photodesorption from CO2(ice) at 75 K: role of CO2 vibrational relaxation on desorption rate.

The photodesorption of CO2 from CO2(ice) at 75 K when irradiated by Lyman-α light is strongly mediated by vibrational relaxation of highly vibrationally excited molecules produced from the electronically excited CO2 state. A vibrationally hot molecule can either relax (major process) in the ice or desorb (minor process). We find that isotopically pure CO2 ices photodesorb least efficiently due to efficient vibrational tuning between molecules in the ice. Isotopically impure CO2 ices are more poorly vibrationally relaxed and hence photodesorb more efficiently. Mixed CO2-Xe ices are still more efficiently photodesorbed due to the dilution of CO2, which further reduces the rate of vibrational relaxation. Resonant interactions as well as phonon-assisted interactions contribute to vibrational relaxation efficiency in ices, and inversely to photodesorption efficiency. The vibrational lifetime of hot CO2 in its ice at 75 K is of order of 10(-15) s. These results indicate that under astronomical conditions, the rate of photodesorption will depend inversely on the rate of vibrational quenching in the ice, which is dependent on the abundance and distance of like oscillators from each other in the ice. In rather isotopically pure ices, the minority isotopic species will photodesorb more rapidly.

Photoluminescence of TiO2: effect of UV light and adsorbed molecules on surface band structure.

The photoluminescence (PL) of TiO(2) at 529.5 nm (2.34 eV) has been found to be a sensitive indicator of UV-induced band structure modification. As UV irradiation occurs, the positive surface potential changes and shifts the depth of the depletion layer. In addition, reversible band bending due to the adsorption of the electron-donor NH(3) and CO molecules has been observed in measurements combining PL with FTIR surface spectroscopy. It has been found that the O(2) molecule acts in two ways: as a reversibly adsorbed electron-acceptor molecule and as an irreversibly adsorbed molecule that heals natural oxygen vacancy defects in the near-surface region.

Localized partial oxidation of acetic acid at the dual perimeter sites of the Au/TiO2 catalyst-formation of gold ketenylidene.

Chemisorbed acetate species derived from the adsorption of acetic acid have been oxidized on a nano-Au/TiO(2) (∼3 nm diameter Au) catalyst at 400 K in the presence of O(2)(g). It was found that partial oxidation occurs to produce gold ketenylidene species, Au(2)═C═C═O. The reactive acetate intermediates are bound at the TiO(2) perimeter sites of the supported Au/TiO(2) catalyst. The ketenylidene species is identified by its measured characteristic stretching frequency ν(CO) = 2040 cm(-1) and by (13)C and (18)O isotopic substitution comparing to calculated frequencies found from density functional theory. The involvement of dual catalytic Ti(4+) and Au perimeter sites is postulated on the basis of the absence of reaction on a similar nano-Au/SiO(2) catalyst. This observation excludes low coordination number Au sites as being active alone in the reaction. Upon raising the temperature to 473 K, the production of CO(2) and H(2)O is observed as both acetate and ketenylidene species are further oxidized by O(2)(g). The results show that partial oxidation of adsorbed acetate to adsorbed ketenylidyne can be cleanly carried out over Au/TiO(2) catalysts by control of temperature.

Inhibition at perimeter sites of Au/TiO2 oxidation catalyst by reactant oxygen.

TiO(2)-supported gold nanoparticles exhibit surprising catalytic activity for oxidation reactions compared to noble bulk gold which is inactive. The catalytic activity is localized at the perimeter of the Au nanoparticles where Au atoms are atomically adjacent to the TiO(2) support. At these dual-catalytic sites an oxygen molecule is efficiently activated through chemical bonding to both Au and Ti(4+) sites. A significant inhibition by a factor of 22 in the CO oxidation reaction rate is observed at 120 K when the Au is preoxidized, caused by the oxygen-induced positive charge produced on the perimeter Au atoms. Theoretical calculations indicate that induced positive charge occurs in the Au atoms which are adjacent to chemisorbed oxygen atoms, almost doubling the activation energy for CO oxidation at the dual-catalytic sites in agreement with experiments. This is an example of self-inhibition in catalysis by a reactant species.

Band formation in a molecular quantum well via 2D superatom orbital interactions.

By scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy, we study nearly free electron band formation of the σ* lowest unoccupied molecular orbital of C6F6 on a Cu(111) surface. In fractal islands, the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy systematically stabilizes with the number of interacting near-neighbor C6F6 molecules. Density functional theory calculations reveal the origin of effective intermolecular orbital overlap in the previously unrecognized superatom character of the σ* orbital of C6F6 molecules. The discovery of superatom orbitals in planar molecules offers a new universal principle for effective band formation, which can be exploited in designing organic semiconductors with nearly free electron properties.

Probe of NH3 and CO adsorption on the very outermost surface of a porous TiO2 adsorbent using photoluminescence spectroscopy.

We report the first measurements of the kinetics of adsorption on the very outermost surface sites of a porous material compared to measurements made of adsorption on the interior sites. NH(3) and CO were employed in this study as representative of slow diffusion and fast diffusion, respectively, through porous TiO(2). Adsorption of NH(3) at 200 K occurs mainly at the very near surface (~20 nm) region as observed by photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, and its distribution by surface diffusion through the powder is highly retarded as judged by transmission IR spectroscopy. In contrast, the adsorption of CO in the near-surface region at 120 K is followed by the fast distribution of CO by surface diffusion into TiO(2) powder, causing the near-surface CO coverage to lag behind the coverage in the bulk. In the desorption process, the near-surface region delivers adsorbed CO molecules into the gas phase, accompanied by the supply of diffusing CO molecules from the interior. As a result, the adsorption/desorption processes for CO in the near-surface region of porous TiO(2) show a pronounced hysteresis effect. As surface diffusion is retarded at lower temperatures, the hysteresis effect gradually disappears.

Electron stimulated desorption, DIET, and photochemistry at surfaces: a personal recollection.

A personal recollection of the beginning of the field of photochemistry on surfaces is given.

Electron-mediated CO oxidation on the TiO2(110) surface during electronic excitation.

The role of electrons and holes in the electronically excited oxidation of adsorbed CO on TiO(2)(110) has been investigated by tuning the surface electron and hole availability by the adsorption of Cl(2) or O(2). The presence of an electron acceptor (Cl(2) or O(2)) on the TiO(2)(110) surface causes upward band bending, increasing the excited hole availability and decreasing the excited electron availability in the near surface region. This enhances O(2) desorption and depresses CO(2) production during electronic excitation. This result gives clear evidence for the first time that the electronically excited CO oxidation reaction is caused by an electron-mediated process in contrast to O(2) desorption which is mediated by holes.

Photochemical decomposition of N2O by Lyman-alpha radiation: scientific basis for a chemical actinometer.

A novel IR method for measuring the kinetics of N(2)O photodecomposition has been devised and used to calibrate the flux of Lyman-alpha (10.2 eV) radiation from a H(2)/Ar microwave discharge lamp. The photodecomposition of N(2)O occurs with a weak pressure dependence due to the operation of a wall effect consuming some photogenerated active oxygen species. This effect is removed by working at high N(2)O pressures. The Lyman-alpha flux from the lamp is 1.28 +/- 0.36 x 10(15) photons cm(-2) s(-1).