1 research outputs found
Spectromicroscopy of a Model Water–Gas Shift Catalyst: Gold Nanoparticles Supported on Ceria
Nanometer-sized
gold particles supported on ceria are an important catalyst for the
low-temperature water–gas shift reaction. In this work, we
prepared a model system of epitaxial, ultrathin (1–2 nm thick)
CeO<sub>2–<i>x</i></sub>(111) crystallites on a Rh(111)
substrate. Low-energy electron microscopy (LEEM) and X-ray photoemission
electron microscopy (XPEEM) were employed to characterize the in situ
growth and morphology of these films, employing Ce 4f resonant photoemission
to probe the oxidation state of the ceria. The deposition of submonolayer
amounts of gold at room temperature was studied with scanning tunneling
microscopy (STM) and XPEEM. Spatially resolved, energy-selected XPEEM
at the Au 4f core level after gold adsorption indicated small shifts
to higher binding energy for the nanoparticles, with the magnitude
of the shift inversely related to the particle size. Slight reduction
of the ceria support was also observed upon increasing Au coverage.
The initial oxidation state of the ceria film was shown to influence
the Au 4f binding energy; more heavily reduced ceria promoted a larger
shift to higher binding energy. Understanding the redox behavior of
the gold/ceria system is an important step in elucidating the mechanisms
behind its catalytic activity