52 research outputs found
Synthesis of monodispersed model catalysts using softlanding cluster deposition
In nanocatalysis, clusters deposited on solid, well-defined surfaces play an important role. For the detection of size effects it is, however, important to prepare samples consisting of deposited clusters of a single size, as their chemical properties change with the exact number of atoms in the cluster. In this paper, the experimental tools are presented to prepare such model systems. The existence of monodispersed clusters is confirmed by various experimental findings. First, the carbonyl formation of deposited Nin clusters shows no change in the nuclearity when comparing the size of the deposited clusters with one of the formed carbonyls. Second, scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) studies show that fragmentation of Sin clusters upon deposition can be excluded. In addition, the adsorption behavior of CO on deposited Pd atoms points to the existence of single atoms on the surface. Furthermore, CO oxidation results on Aun clusters confirm the existence of monodispersed clusters trapped on well-defined adsorption sites. Finally, we use Monte-Carlo simulations to define the range of clusters and defect densities, for which monodispersed clusters can be expecte
Circular Dichroism and Isotropy – Polarity Reversal of Ellipticity in Molecular Films of 1,1’-Bi-2-Naphtol
Cluster Catalysis with Lattice Oxygen: Tracing Oxygen Transport from a Magnetite(001) Support onto Small Pt Clusters
Oxidation catalysis on reducible oxide-supported small metal clusters often
involves lattice oxygen. In the present work, we trace the path of lattice
oxygen from Fe3O4(001) onto small Pt clusters during the CO oxidation, aiming
at differentiating whether the reaction takes place at the cluster/support
interface or on the cluster. While oxygen vacancies form on many other
supports, magnetite maintains its surface stoichiometry upon reduction thanks
to a high cation mobility. In order to investigate whether size-dependent
oxygen affinities play a role, we study two specific cluster sizes, Pt5 and
Pt19. By separating different reaction steps in our experiment, lattice oxygen
can be accumulated on the clusters. Temperature programmed desorption (TPD) and
sophisticated pulsed valve experiments indicate that the CO oxidation takes
place on the Pt clusters rather than at the interface. Scanning tunneling
microscopy (STM) shows a decrease in apparent height of the clusters, which
density functional theory (DFT) explains as a restructuring following lattice
oxygen reverse spillover
Tuning SMSI Kinetics on Pt-loaded TiO(110) by Choosing the Pressure: A Combined UHV / Near-Ambient Pressure XPS Study
Pt catalyst particles on reducible oxide supports often change their activity
significantly at elevated temperatures due to the strong metal-support
interaction (SMSI), which induces the formation of an encapsulation layer
around the noble metal particles. However, the impact of oxidizing and reducing
treatments at elevated pressures on this encapsulation layer remains
controversial, partly due to the 'pressure gap' between surface science studies
and applied catalysis. In the present work, we employ synchrotron-based
near-ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (NAP-XPS) to study the
effect of O and H on the SMSI-state of well-defined Pt/TiO(110)
catalysts at pressures of up to 0.1 Torr. By tuning the O pressure, we can
either selectively oxidize the TiO support or both the support and the Pt
particles. Catalyzed by metallic Pt, the encapsulating oxide overlayer grows
rapidly in 1x10 Torr O, but orders of magnitudes less effective at
higher O pressures, where Pt is in an oxidic state. While the
oxidation/reduction of Pt particles is reversible, they remain embedded in the
support once encapsulation has occurred
Atomic Undercoordination in Ag Islands on Ru(0001) Grown via Size-Selected Cluster Deposition: An Experimental and Theoretical High-Resolution Core-Level Photoemission Study
The possibility of depositing precisely mass-selected Ag clusters (Ag-1, Ag-3, and Ag-7) on Ru(0001) was instrumental in determining the importance of the in-plane coordination number (CN) and allowed us to establish a linear dependence of the Ag 3d(5/2) core-level shift on CN. The fast cluster surface diffusion at room temperature, caused by the low interaction between silver and ruthenium, leads to the formation of islands with a low degree of ordering, as evidenced by the high density of low-coordinated atomic configurations, in particular CN = 4 and 5. On the contrary, islands formed upon Ag-7 deposition show a higher density of atoms with CN = 6, thus indicating the formation of islands with a close-packed atomic arrangement. This combined experimental and theoretical approach, when applied to clusters of different elements, offers the perspective to reveal nonequivalent local configurations in two-dimensional (2D) materials grown using different building blocks, with potential implications in understanding electronic and reactivity properties at the atomic level
On-Surface Carbon Nitride Growth from Polymerization of 2,5,8-Triazido-s-heptazine
Carbon nitrides have recently come into focus for photo- and thermal
catalysis, both as support materials for metal nanoparticles as well as
photocatalysts themselves. While many approaches for the synthesis of
three-dimensional carbon nitride materials are available, only top-down
approaches by exfoliation of powders lead to thin film flakes of this
inherently two-dimensional material. Here, we describe an in situ on-surface
synthesis of monolayer 2D carbon nitride films, as a first step towards precise
combination with other 2D materials. Starting with a single monomer precursor,
we show that 2,5,8-triazido-s-heptazine (TAH) can be evaporated intact,
deposited on a single crystalline Au(111) or graphite support, and activated
via azide decomposition and subsequent coupling to form a covalent
polyheptazine network. We demonstrate that the activation can occur in three
pathways, via electrons (X-ray illumination), photons (UV illumination) and
thermally. Our work paves the way to coat materials with extended carbon
nitride networks which are, as we show, stable under ambient conditions
Photoresponse of supramolecular self-assembled networks on graphene–diamond interfaces
Nature employs self-assembly to fabricate the most complex molecularly precise machinery known to man. Heteromolecular, two-dimensional self-assembled networks provide a route to spatially organize different building blocks relative to each other, enabling synthetic molecularly precise fabrication. Here we demonstrate optoelectronic function in a near-to-monolayer molecular architecture approaching atomically defined spatial disposition of all components. The active layer consists of a self-assembled terrylene-based dye, forming a bicomponent supramolecular network with melamine. The assembly at the graphene-diamond interface shows an absorption maximum at 740 nm whereby the photoresponse can be measured with a gallium counter electrode. We find photocurrents of 0.5 nA and open-circuit voltages of 270 mV employing 19 mW cm−2 irradiation intensities at 710 nm. With an ex situ calculated contact area of 9.9 × 102 μm2, an incident photon to current efficiency of 0.6% at 710 nm is estimated, opening up intriguing possibilities in bottom-up optoelectronic device fabrication with molecular resolution
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