EXAFS and optical spectroscopy characterisation of reduction products of binary silver-copper ion mixture in mordenite

Ag+, Cu2+ and Ag+-Cu2+ binary mixtures with different Ag/Cu ratios were supported on mordenite with Si/Al ratio equal to 10 and reduced in the temperature range 323-673 K. Diffuse Reflectance UV-Visible spectra reveal appearance of Ag-8 clusters and small copper metal particles. Cu K-edge EXAFS show for Cu-rich non-reduced samples the presence of only oxygen shell; but for the Ag-rich sample, the presence of heavier backscatterer is also indicated producing a different EXAFS envelope. Silver EXAFS analysis suggests that, for the reduced samples, there are both Ag - 0 and Ag - Ag distances (Ag - Ag and Ag - O coordination numbers of approx 2 and of 1.3 respectively for the Ag/Cu = 3:1. and 1:3 samples). Importantly. for the reduced sample, the EXAFS indicates that Ag appears to promote/stabilise Cu cluster formation whereas Cu appears to impede/destabilise Ag cluster formation