Highly Active Au/δ-MoC and Cu/δ-MoC Catalysts for the Conversion of CO2: The Metal/C Ratio as a Key Factor Defining Activity, Selectivity, and Stability.

The ever growing increase of CO2 concentration in the atmosphere is one of the main causes of global warming. Thus, CO2 activation and conversion toward valuable added compounds is a major scientific challenge. A new set of Au/δ-MoC and Cu/δ-MoC catalysts exhibits high activity, selectivity, and stability for the reduction of CO2 to CO with some subsequent selective hydrogenation toward methanol. Sophisticated experiments under controlled conditions and calculations based on density functional theory have been used to study the unique behavior of these systems. A detailed comparison of the behavior of Au/ß-Mo2C and Au/δ-MoC catalysts provides evidence of the impact of the metal/carbon ratio in the carbide on the performance of the catalysts. The present results show that this ratio governs the chemical behavior of the carbide and the properties of the admetal, up to the point of being able to switch the rate and mechanism of the process for CO2 conversion. A control of the metal/carbon ratio paves the road for an efficient reutilization of this environmental harmful greenhouse gas.

In situ and theoretical studies for the dissociation of water on an active Ni/CeO2 catalyst: importance of strong metal-support interactions for the cleavage of O-H bonds.

Water dissociation is crucial in many catalytic reactions on oxide-supported transition-metal catalysts. Supported by experimental and density-functional theory results, the effect of the support on OH bond cleavage activity is elucidated for nickel/ceria systems. Ambient-pressure O 1s photoemission spectra at low Ni loadings on CeO2 (111) reveal a substantially larger amount of OH groups as compared to the bare support. Computed activation energy barriers for water dissociation show an enhanced reactivity of Ni adatoms on CeO2 (111) compared with pyramidal Ni4 particles with one Ni atom not in contact with the support, and extended Ni(111) surfaces. At the origin of this support effect is the ability of ceria to stabilize oxidized Ni(2+) species by accommodating electrons in localized f-states. The fast dissociation of water on Ni/CeO2 has a dramatic effect on the activity and stability of this system as a catalyst for the water-gas shift and ethanol steam reforming reactions.

Charge polarization at a Au-TiC interface and the generation of highly active and selective catalysts for the low-temperature water-gas shift reaction.

Au atoms in contact with TiC(001) undergo significant charge polarization. Strong metal-support interactions make Au/TiC(001) an excellent catalyst for the low-temperature water-gas shift (WGS), with turnover frequencies orders of magnitude larger than those observed for conventional metal/oxide catalysts. DFT calculations indicate that the WGS reaction follows an associative mechanism with HOCO as a key intermediate.

Stabilization of catalytically active Cu⁺ surface sites on titanium-copper mixed-oxide films.

The oxidation of CO is the archetypal heterogeneous catalytic reaction and plays a central role in the advancement of fundamental studies, the control of automobile emissions, and industrial oxidation reactions. Copper-based catalysts were the first catalysts that were reported to enable the oxidation of CO at room temperature, but a lack of stability at the elevated reaction temperatures that are used in automobile catalytic converters, in particular the loss of the most reactive Cu(+) cations, leads to their deactivation. Using a combined experimental and theoretical approach, it is shown how the incorporation of titanium cations in a Cu2O film leads to the formation of a stable mixed-metal oxide with a Cu(+) terminated surface that is highly active for CO oxidation.

A new type of strong metal-support interaction and the production of H2 through the transformation of water on Pt/CeO2(111) and Pt/CeO(x)/TiO2(110) catalysts.

The electronic properties of Pt nanoparticles deposited on CeO(2)(111) and CeO(x)/TiO(2)(110) model catalysts have been examined using valence photoemission experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The valence photoemission and DFT results point to a new type of "strong metal-support interaction" that produces large electronic perturbations for small Pt particles in contact with ceria and significantly enhances the ability of the admetal to dissociate the O-H bonds in water. When going from Pt(111) to Pt(8)/CeO(2)(111), the dissociation of water becomes a very exothermic process. The ceria-supported Pt(8) appears as a fluxional system that can change geometry and charge distribution to accommodate adsorbates better. In comparison with other water-gas shift (WGS) catalysts [Cu(111), Pt(111), Cu/CeO(2)(111), and Au/CeO(2)(111)], the Pt/CeO(2)(111) surface has the unique property that the admetal is able to dissociate water in an efficient way. Furthermore, for the codeposition of Pt and CeO(x) nanoparticles on TiO(2)(110), we have found a transfer of O from the ceria to Pt that opens new paths for the WGS process and makes the mixed-metal oxide an extremely active catalyst for the production of hydrogen.

High catalytic activity of Au/CeOx/TiO2(110) controlled by the nature of the mixed-metal oxide at the nanometer level.

Mixed-metal oxides play a very important role in many areas of chemistry, physics, materials science, and geochemistry. Recently, there has been a strong interest in understanding phenomena associated with the deposition of oxide nanoparticles on the surface of a second (host) oxide. Here, scanning tunneling microscopy, photoemission, and density-functional calculations are used to study the behavior of ceria nanoparticles deposited on a TiO(2)(110) surface. The titania substrate imposes nontypical coordination modes on the ceria nanoparticles. In the CeO(x)/TiO(2)(110) systems, the Ce cations adopt an structural geometry and an oxidation state (+3) that are quite different from those seen in bulk ceria or for ceria nanoparticles deposited on metal substrates. The increase in the stability of the Ce(3+) oxidation state leads to an enhancement in the chemical and catalytic activity of the ceria nanoparticles. The codeposition of ceria and gold nanoparticles on a TiO(2)(110) substrate generates catalysts with an extremely high activity for the production of hydrogen through the water-gas shift reaction (H(2)O + CO --> H(2) + CO(2)) or for the oxidation of carbon monoxide (2CO + O(2) --> 2CO(2)). The enhanced stability of the Ce(3+) state is an example of structural promotion in catalysis described here on the atomic level. The exploration of mixed-metal oxides at the nanometer level may open avenues for optimizing catalysts through stabilization of unconventional surface structures with special chemical activity.

CO oxidation on inverse CeO(x)/Cu(111) catalysts: high catalytic activity and ceria-promoted dissociation of O2.

A Cu(111) surface displays a low activity for the oxidation of carbon monoxide (2CO + O(2) → 2CO(2)). Depending on the temperature, background pressure of O(2), and the exposure time, one can get chemisorbed O on Cu(111) or a layer of Cu(2)O that may be deficient in oxygen. The addition of ceria nanoparticles (NPs) to Cu(111) substantially enhances interactions with the O(2) molecule and facilitates the oxidation of the copper substrate. In images of scanning tunneling microscopy, ceria NPs exhibit two overlapping honeycomb-type moiré structures, with the larger ones (H(1)) having a periodicity of 4.2 nm and the smaller ones (H(2)) having a periodicity of 1.20 nm. After annealing CeO(2)/Cu(111) in O(2) at elevated temperatures (600-700 K), a new phase of a Cu(2)O(1+x) surface oxide appears and propagates from the ceria NPs. The ceria is not only active for O(2) dissociation, but provides a much faster channel for oxidation than the step edges of Cu(111). Exposure to CO at 550-750 K led to a partial reduction of the ceria NPs and the removal of the copper oxide layer. The CeO(x)/Cu(111) systems have activities for the 2CO + O(2) → 2CO(2) reaction that are comparable or larger than those reported for surfaces of expensive noble metals such as Rh(111), Pd(110), and Pt(100). Density-functional calculations show that the supported ceria NPs are able to catalyze the oxidation of CO due to their special electronic and chemical properties. The configuration of the inverse oxide/metal catalyst opens new interesting routes for applications in catalysis.

Gold, copper, and platinum nanoparticles dispersed on CeO(x)/TiO(2)(110) surfaces: high water-gas shift activity and the nature of the mixed-metal oxide at the nanometer level.

At small coverages of ceria on TiO(2)(110), the CeO(x) nanoparticles have an unusual coordination mode. Scanning tunneling microscopy and density-functional calculations point to the presence of Ce(2)O(3) dimers, which form diagonal arrays that have specific orientations of 0, 24, and 42 degrees with respect to the [1 -1 0] direction of the titania substrate. At high coverages of ceria on TiO(2)(110), the surface exhibits two types of terraces. In one type, the morphology is not very different from that observed at low ceria coverage. However, in the second type of terrace, there is a compact array of ceria particles with structures that do not match the structures of CeO(2)(111) or CeO(2)(110). The titania substrate imposes on the ceria nanoparticles nontypical coordination modes, enhancing their chemical reactivity. This phenomenon leads to a larger dispersion of supported metal nanoparticles (M = Au, Cu, Pt) and makes possible the direct participation of the oxide in catalytic reactions. The M/CeO(x)/TiO(2)(110) surfaces display an extremely high catalytic activity for the water-gas shift reaction that follows the sequence Au/CeO(x)/TiO(2)(110) < Cu/CeO(x)/TiO(2)(110) < Pt/CeO(x)/TiO(2)(110). For low coverages of Cu and CeO(x), Cu/CeO(x)/TiO(2)(110) is 8-12 times more active than Cu(111) or Cu/ZnO industrial catalysts. In the M/CeO(x)/TiO(2)(110) systems, there is a strong coupling of the chemical properties of the admetal and the mixed-metal oxide: The adsorption and dissociation of water probably take place on the oxide, CO adsorbs on the admetal nanoparticles, and all subsequent reaction steps occur at the oxide-admetal interface. The high catalytic activity of the M/CeO(x)/TiO(2)(110) surfaces reflects the unique properties of the mixed-metal oxide at the nanometer level.

Fundamental studies of methanol synthesis from CO(2) hydrogenation on Cu(111), Cu clusters, and Cu/ZnO(0001).

A combination of experimental and theoretical methods were employed to investigate the synthesis of methanol via CO(2) hydrogenation (CO(2) + 3H(2)--> CH(3)OH + H(2)O) on Cu(111) and Cu nanoparticle surfaces. High pressure reactivity studies show that Cu nanoparticles supported on a ZnO(0001[combining macron]) single crystal exhibit a higher catalytic activity than the Cu(111) planar surface. Complementary density functional theory (DFT) calculations of methanol synthesis were also performed for a Cu(111) surface and unsupported Cu(29) nanoparticles, and the results support a higher activity for Cu nanoparticles. The DFT calculations show that methanol synthesis on Cu surfaces proceeds through a formate intermediate and the overall reaction rate is limited by both formate and dioxomethylene hydrogenation. Moreover, the superior activity of the nanoparticle is associated with its fluxionality and the presence of low-coordinated Cu sites, which stabilize the key intermediates, e.g. formate and dioxomethylene, and lower the barrier for the rate-limiting hydrogenation process. The reverse water-gas-shift (RWGS) reaction (CO(2) + H(2)--> CO + H(2)O) was experimentally observed to compete with methanol synthesis and was also considered in our DFT calculations. In agreement with experiment, the rate of the RWGS reaction on Cu nanoparticles is estimated to be approximately 2 orders of magnitude faster than methanol synthesis at T = 573 K. The experiments and calculations also indicate that CO produced by the fast RWGS reaction does not undergo subsequent hydrogenation to methanol, but instead simply accumulates as a product. Methanol production from CO hydrogenation via the RWGS pathway is hindered by the first hydrogenation of CO to formyl, which is not stable and prefers to dissociate into CO and H atoms on Cu. Our calculated results suggest that the methanol yield over Cu-based catalysts could be improved by adding dopants or promoters which are able to stabilize formyl species or facilitate the hydrogenation of formate and dioxomethylene.

Au <--> N synergy and N-doping of metal oxide-based photocatalysts.

N-doping of titania makes photocatalytic activity possible for the splitting of water, and other reactions, under visible light. Here, we show from both theory and experiment that Au preadsorption on TiO2 surfaces significantly increases the reachable amount of N implanted in the oxide. The stabilization of the embedded N is due to an electron transfer from the Au 6s levels toward the N 2p levels, which also increases the Au-surface adhesion energy. Theoretical calculations predict that Au can also stabilize embedded N in other metal oxides with photocatalytic activity, such as SrTiO3 and ZnO, producing new states above the valence band or below the conduction band of the oxide. In experiments, the Au/TiN(x)O(2-y) system was found to be more active for the dissociation of water than TiO2, Au/TiO2, or TiO(2-y). Furthermore, the Au/TiN(x)O(2-y) surfaces were able to catalyze the production of hydrogen through the water-gas shift reaction (WGS) at elevated temperatures (575-625 K), displaying a catalytic activity superior to that of pure copper (the most active metal catalysts for the WGS) or Cu nanoparticles supported on ZnO.

Potassium and Water Coadsorption on TiO2(110): OH-Induced Anchoring of Potassium and the Generation of Single-Site Catalysts.

Potassium deposition on TiO2(110) results in reduction of the substrate and formation of loosely bound potassium species that can move easily on the oxide surface to promote catalytic activity. The results of density functional calculations predict a large adsorption energy (∼3.2 eV) with a small barrier (∼0.25 eV) for diffusion on the oxide surface. In scanning tunneling microscopy images, the adsorbed alkali atoms lose their mobility when in contact with surface OH groups. Furthermore, K adatoms facilitate the dissociation of water on the titania surface. The K-(OH) species generated are good sites for the binding of gold clusters on the TiO2(110) surface, producing Au/K/TiO2(110) systems with high activity for the water-gas shift.

Catalysis. Highly active copper-ceria and copper-ceria-titania catalysts for methanol synthesis from CO2.

The transformation of CO2 into alcohols or other hydrocarbon compounds is challenging because of the difficulties associated with the chemical activation of CO2 by heterogeneous catalysts. Pure metals and bimetallic systems used for this task usually have low catalytic activity. Here we present experimental and theoretical evidence for a completely different type of site for CO2 activation: a copper-ceria interface that is highly efficient for the synthesis of methanol. The combination of metal and oxide sites in the copper-ceria interface affords complementary chemical properties that lead to special reaction pathways for the CO2→CH3OH conversion.

CO2 Activation and Methanol Synthesis on Novel Au/TiC and Cu/TiC Catalysts.

Small Cu and Au particles in contact with a TiC(001) surface undergo a charge polarization that makes them very active for CO2 activation and the catalytic synthesis of methanol. The binding energy of CO2 on these systems is in the range of 0.6 to 1.1 eV, much larger than those observed on surfaces or nanoparticles of Cu and Au. Thus, in spite of the poor CO2 hydrogenation performance of Cu(111) and Au(111), the Cu/TiC(001) and Au/TiC(001) systems display a catalytic activity for methanol synthesis substantially higher than that of conventional Cu/ZnO catalysts. The turnover frequencies for methanol production on Cu/TiC(001) are 170-500 times much larger than on Cu(111). The present study moves away from the typical approach of using metal/oxide catalysts for the synthesis of methanol via CO2 hydrogenation. This work shows that metal carbides can be excellent supports for enhancing the ability of noble metals to bond and activate CO2.

Nanopattering in CeOx/Cu(111): A New Type of Surface Reconstruction and Enhancement of Catalytic Activity.

Our results indicate that small amounts of an oxide deposited on a stable metal surface can trigger a massive surface reconstruction under reaction conditions. In low-energy electron microscopy (LEEM) experiments, no reconstruction of Cu(111) is observed after chemisorbing oxygen or after reducing O/Cu(111) in a CO atmosphere. On the other hand, LEEM images taken in situ during the reduction of CeO2/CuO1-x/Cu(111) show a complex nonuniform transformation of the surface morphology. Ceria particles act as nucleation sites for the growth of copper microterraces once CuO1-x is reduced. Can this reconstructed surface be used to enhance the catalytic activity of inverse oxide/metal catalysts? Indeed, CeOx on reconstructed Cu(111) is an extremely active catalyst for the water-gas shift process (CO + H2O → H2 + CO2), with the Cu microterraces providing very efficient sites for the dissociation of water and subsequent reaction with CO.