The Interaction of Water with Solid Surfaces: Fundamental Aspects Revisited

Ultrathin metal films and particles on oxide surfaces: structural, electronic and chemisorptive properties

While inert as bulk material, nanoscale gold particles dispersed on oxide supports exhibit a remarkable catalytic activity. Temperature-programmed reaction studies of the catalyzed combustion of CO on size-selected small monodispersed Aun (n ≤ 20) gold clusters supported on magnesia, and first-principle simulations, reveal the microscopic origins of the observed unusual catalytic activity, with Au8 found to be the smallest catalytically active size. Partial electron transfer from the surface to the gold cluster and oxygen-vacancy F-center defects are shown to play an essential role in the activation of nanosize gold clusters as catalysts for the combustion reaction.

https://www.physics.gatech.edu/files/u26/papers/0228.pdf

When Gold Is Not Noble: Nanoscale Gold Catalysts

Surface studies of supported model catalysts

Reference LPI-ARTICLE-1999-017View record in Web of Science Record created on 2006-02-21, modified on 2017-05-12

/pdf/metal-oxide-surfaces-and-their-interactions-with-aqueous-22jt31pax0.pdf

Metal Oxide Surfaces and Their Interactions with Aqueous Solutions and Microbial Organisms.

Synthesis and characterization of ultra-thin MgO films on Mo(100)

XPS characterization of ultra-thin MgO films on a Mo(100) surface

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic characterization of ultra-thin silicon oxide films on a Mo(100) surface

Model surface studies of magnesium oxide have been carried out using surface sensitive techniques. Ultrathin MgO films have been synthesized under ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) conditions by thermally evaporating Mg onto Mo(100) in the presence of oxygen. Low‐energy electron diffraction (LEED) studies indicate that the MgO films grow epitaxially with the (100) face of MgO oriented parallel to Mo(100). The MgO films, prepared under optimum synthesis conditions, have essentially one‐to‐one stoichiometry, are nearly free from pointlike surface defects, and have properties essentially identical to those of bulk, single‐crystal MgO. Adsorption of water and methanol onto the MgO films has been studied using high‐resolution electron energy‐loss spectroscopy (HREELS) and temperature programmed desorption (TPD). In order to circumvent the difficulty associated with intense multiple surface optical phonon (Fuchs–Kliewer modes) losses, a new approach to acquisition of HREELS data has been demonstrated. This new approach enables the direct observation of weak loss features due to excitation of the adsorbates without serious interference from multiple phonon losses. Our HREELS studies show that water and methanol undergo heterolytic dissociation, leading to the formation of hydroxyl and methoxy species, respectively.

Jason S. Corneille

Papers

Synthesis and characterization of ultra-thin MgO films on Mo(100)

XPS characterization of ultra-thin MgO films on a Mo(100) surface

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic characterization of ultra-thin silicon oxide films on a Mo(100) surface

Model surface studies of metal oxides : adsorption of water and methanol on ultrathin MgO films on Mo(100)

CO adsorption on ultrathin MgO films grown on a Mo(100) surface: an IRAS study