The mechanism of emerging catalytic activity of gold nano-clusters on rutile TiO2(110) in CO oxidation reaction

This paper reveals the fact that the O adatoms (O(ad)) adsorbed on the 5-fold Ti rows of rutile TiO(2)(110) react with CO to form CO(2) at room temperature and the oxidation reaction is pronouncedly enhanced by Au nano-clusters deposited on the above O-rich TiO(2)(110) surfaces. The optimum activity is obtained for 2D clusters with a lateral size of ～1.5 nm and two-atomic layer height corresponding to ～50 Au atoms∕cluster. This strong activity emerging is attributed to an electronic charge transfer from Au clusters to O-rich TiO(2)(110) supports observed clearly by work function measurement, which results in an interface dipole. The interface dipoles lower the potential barrier for dissociative O(2) adsorption on the surface and also enhance the reaction of CO with the O(ad) atoms to form CO(2) owing to the electric field of the interface dipoles, which generate an attractive force upon polar CO molecules and thus prolong the duration time on the Au nano-clusters. This electric field is screened by the valence electrons of Au clusters except near the perimeter interfaces, thereby the activity is diminished for three-dimensional clusters with a larger size.     

Catalytic activity of Pd ensembles over Au(111) surface for CO oxidation: a first-principles study

Employing the first-principles pseudopotential plane-wave methods and nudged-elastic-band simulations, we studied the reaction of CO oxidation on Pd-decorated Au(111) surface. We found that the contiguous Pd ensembles are required for the CO + O(2) reaction. Interestingly, Pd dimer is an active site for the two-step reaction of CO+O(2)→OOCO→CO(2)+O, and a low energy barrier (0.29 eV) is found for the formation of the intermediate metastable state (OOCO) compared to the barrier of 0.69 eV on Pd trimer. Furthermore, the residual atomic O in the CO + O(2) reaction can be removed by another CO on Pd dimer with the barrier of 0.56 eV close to the value of 0.52 eV on Pd monomer via Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism. The higher energy barriers (0.96 and 0.64 eV) are also found for the CO + O reaction on Pd trimers. The calculated results indicate Pd dimer is highly reactive for CO oxidation by O(2) via association mechanism on Pd-decorated Au(111) surface.     

Mechanism of CO Oxidation on Cu2O (111) Surface: A DFT and Microkinetic Study

Catalytic oxidation has been recognized as one of the most efficient and promising techniques for the abatement of CO and volatile organic compounds. In the present work, the CO oxidation mechanism on perfect Cu₂O (111) surface was investigated by using density functional theory (DFT) calculations with the periodic surface model. The unsaturated singly coordinated Cu⁺ site of Cu₂O (111) surface could effectively adsorb gaseous CO molecule with a strong adsorption energy of −1.558 eV. The adsorbed O on Cu₂O (111) surface is very active toward CO oxidation with only 0.269 eV energy barrier. The reaction between CO and lattice O is the rate‐determining step of Mars‐van‐Krevelen (MvK) type CO oxidation with the energy barrier of 1.629 eV. The CO oxidation cycle initiated by the reaction between coadsorbed CO and O₂ at the Cu_I site has a relatively lower energy barrier of 1.082 eV and is, therefore, more likely to proceed compared with the MvK cycle. Microkinetic rate constants of elementary reaction steps based on the transition state theory were deduced, which could be helpful in the kinetic modeling of CO oxidation on Cu₂O surface.     

Effect of supporting surface layers on catalytic activities of gold nanoparticles in CO oxidation

The surfaces of fumed silica materials were modified with a surface sol-gel process for catalysis applications. This surface-modification approach allows not only a monolayer growth of TiO(2) or Al(2)O(3) but also a stepwise double-layer growth of TiO(2)/TiO(2), Al(2)O(3)/Al(2)O(3), TiO(2)/Al(2)O(3), or Al(2)O(3)/TiO(2) on the surfaces of the silica materials with a monolayer precision. XRD analyses revealed that the coated monolayers and double layers of TiO(2) and Al(2)O(3) were amorphous. Gold nanoparticles were successfully deposited on the above six surface-modified silica materials via a deposition-precipitation method. The catalytic activities of these six gold catalysts for CO oxidation are highly dependent on the structures of their surface monolayers or double layers. The gold catalyst supported on the silica material functionalized with a TiO(2) monolayer (Au/TiO(2)) is the most active in both as-synthesized and oxidized forms, while the gold catalyst supported on the silica material functionalized with an Al(2)O(3)/TiO(2) double layer (Au/Al(2)O(3)/TiO(2)/SiO(2)) is the most active in the reduced form among the six catalysts. Surprisingly, the gold catalyst supported on the silica material functionalized with a TiO(2)/Al(2)O(3) double layer (Au/TiO(2)/Al(2)O(3)/SiO(2)) has much less activity than Au/Al(2)O(3)/TiO(2)/SiO(2) under all various treatments, underscoring the sensitivity of the catalytic activity to the structure of the supporting surfaces.     

纳米金催化一氧化碳氧化反应的理论研究

近年来,纳米金催化剂独特的催化性质,特别是其优异的低温催化氧化活性,引起了人们极大的研究热情.除低温选择氧化外,在精细化学品合成、大气污染物消除、氢能的转换和利用等领域也开发出了一系列有广泛应用前景的金催化反应.此外,体相金的化学惰性和纳米金的超高活性之间差异的“鸿沟”也引起了理论工作者浓厚兴趣,试图从原理上理解体相金和纳米金活性差异的根源. CO催化氧化是最具有代表性的研究金催化活性的化学反应,本文主要综述了近十多年来金催化 CO氧化反应理论计算方面的研究工作.一般认为, CO在纳米金表面的吸附是 CO氧化反应的初始步骤.密度泛函理论研究表明, CO在金表面的吸附强度主要与被吸附金原子的配位数有关：金配位数越低, CO的吸附能越强,部分研究结果表明两者之间存在近似的线性关系.我们研究发现, CO吸附强度也与被吸附金周围配位金原子的相对位置有关,其中位于正下方的配位金原子加强 CO吸附,而位于侧位的配位金原子则弱化 CO吸附,这显然削弱了 CO吸附与金配位数线性关系的可靠性.理论研究表明,在纯金表
　　面上 O2吸附强度一般很弱,只有在一些特殊结构的金团簇上才有较强的吸附,但在 Au/TiO2界面及 CeO2表面上 O2吸附较强.金表面原子氧的吸附和金的表面结构有关.我们发现,原子氧倾向于在金的表面形成一种线性的 O–Au–O结构以增加其稳定性.当金表面的氧覆盖度增大时,会形成一种金氧化物薄膜结构,其结构依赖于氧的化学势和金的表面结构.纳米金催化 CO氧化反应机理可能因体系、载体等的差异而不同.大部分理论计算结果表明,在纯金表面上 O2很难直接解离形成原子氧,因此反应机理可能是吸附的 CO先与 O2反应形成了一种 CO–O2中间体,然后解离形成 CO2.在 Au/TiO2和 Au/CeO2催化剂上 CO催化氧化机理争议很大,均有计算结果支持 LH机理和 M–vK机理.另外,根据实验上观察到了负载型纳米金能直接活化分子氧的结果,理论上也提出了分子氧先解离为原子氧再与 CO反应的氧解离机理.针对如何解离分子氧问题,人们分别提出了低配位金模型、正方形金结构模型、Ti5c模型及 Au/Ti5c模型等.我们也提出了一种独特的双直线 O–Au–O模型来理解 Au/TiO2或 Au/CeO2界面解离活化分子氧.理论计算结果表明,低配位的金,金和载体之间的电荷转移,以及金所表现出的强相对论效应对于纳米金的活性影响很大.需要特别指出的是,金的强相对论效应有助于理解金表面的 CO吸附与金配位的关系、金表面原子氧的吸附特性、金氧化物薄膜的结构和分子氧的活化等过程.我们认为,金的强相对论作用导致了体相金的化学惰性以及纳米金的活性,因此相对论效应的深入研究将有助于理解金催化 CO氧化反应机理,从而有助于深层次理解纳米金催化活性来源.     

Adsorption of O2 and oxidation of CO at Au nanoparticles supported by TiO2(110)

Density functional theory calculations are performed for the adsorption of O2, coadsorption of CO, and the CO+O2 reaction at the interfacial perimeter of nanoparticles supported by rutile TiO2(110). Both stoichiometric and reduced TiO2 surfaces are considered, with various relative arrangements of the supported Au particles with respect to the substrate vacancies. Rather stable binding configurations are found for the O2 adsorbed either at the trough Ti atoms or leaning against the Au particles. The presence of a supported Au particle strongly stabilizes the adsorption of O2. A sizable electronic charge transfer from the Au to the O2 is found together with a concomitant electronic polarization of the support meaning that the substrate is mediating the charge transfer. The O2 attains two different charge states, with either one or two surplus electrons depending on the precise O2 adsorption site at or in front of the Au particle. From the least charged state, the O2 can react with CO adsorbed at the edge sites of the Au particles leading to the formation of CO2 with very low (approximately 0.15 eV) energy barriers.     

CO oxidation on unsupported Au55, Ag55, and Au25Ag30 nanoclusters

Using density functional calculations, we demonstrate a catalytic reaction path with activation barriers of less than 0.5 eV for CO oxidation on the neutral and unsupported icosahedral nanoclusters of Au(55), Ag(55), and Au(25)Ag(30). Both CO and O(2) adsorb more strongly on these clusters than on the corresponding bulk surfaces. The reaction path consists of an intermediate involving OOCO complex through which the coadsorption energy of CO and O(2) on these clusters is expected to play an important role in the reaction. Based on the studies for the Au and Ag nanoclusters, a model alloy nanocluster of Au(25)Ag(30) was designed to provide a larger coadsorption energy for CO and O(2) and was anticipated to be a better catalyst for CO oxidation from energetic analysis.     

First principles study of CO oxidation on TiO2(110): the role of surface oxygen vacancies

The reactivities of the stoichiometric and partially reduced rutile TiO2(110) surfaces towards oxygen adsorption and carbon monoxide oxidation have been studied by means of periodic density functional theory calculations within the Car-Parrinello approach. O2 adsorption as well as CO oxidation are found to take place only in the presence of surface oxygen vacancies (partially reduced surface). The oxidation of CO by molecularly adsorbed O2 at the O-vacancy site is found to have an activation energy of about 0.4 eV. When the adsorbed O2 is dissociated, the resulting adatoms can oxidize incoming gas-phase CO molecules with no barrier. In all studied cases, once CO is oxidized to form CO2, the resulting surface is defect-free and no catalytic cycle can be established.     

The nature of the oxidation states of gold on ZnO

The interaction between gold in the 0, i, ii and iii oxidation states and the zinc-terminated ZnO(0001) surface is studied via the QM/MM electronic embedding method using density functional theory. The surface sites considered are the vacant zinc interstitial surface site (VZISS) and the bulk-terminated island site (BTIS). We find that on the VZISS, only Au(0) and Au(i) are stable oxidation states. However, all clusters of i to iii oxidation states are stable as substitutionals for Zn2+ in the bulk terminated island site. Au(OH)(x) complexes (x= 1-3) can adsorb exothermically onto the VZISS, indicating that higher oxidation states of gold can be stabilised at this site in the presence of hydroxyl groups. CO is used as a probe molecule to study the reactivity of Au in different oxidation states in VZISS and BTIS. In all cases, we find that the strongest binding of CO is to surface Au(i). Furthermore, CO binding onto Au(0) is stronger when the gold atom is adsorbed onto the VZISS compared to CO binding onto a gas phase neutral gold atom. These results indicate that the nature of the oxidation states of Au on ZnO(0001) will depend on the type of adsorption site. The role of ZnO in Au/ZnO catalysts is not, therefore, merely to disperse gold atoms/particles, but to also modify their electronic properties.     

单晶Au表面和Au/TiO2（110）模型催化剂表面CO氧化反应机理和活性位

在分子尺度上介绍了Au/TiO2(110)模型催化剂表面和单晶Au表面CO氧化反应机理和活性位、以及H2O的作用.在低温(<320 K), H2O起着促进CO氧化的作用, CO氧化的活性位位于金纳米颗粒与TiO2载体界面(Auδ+–Oδ––Ti)的周边. O2和H2O在金纳米颗粒与TiO2载体界面边缘处反应形成OOH,而形成的OOH使O–O键活化,随后OOH与CO反应生成CO2.300 K时CO2的形成速率受限于O2压力与该反应机理相印证.相反,在高温(>320 K)下,因暴露于CO中而导致催化剂表面重组,在表面形成低配位金原子.低配位的金原子吸附O2,随后O2解离,并在金属金表面氧化CO.     

Size and support effects for the water-gas shift catalysis over gold nanoparticles supported on model Al2O3 and TiO2

The water-gas shift (WGS) reaction rate per total mole of Au under 7% CO, 8.5% CO(2), 22% H(2)O, and 37% H(2) at 1 atm for Au/Al(2)O(3) catalysts at 180 °C and Au/TiO(2) catalysts at 120 °C varies with the number average Au particle size (d) as d(-2.2±0.2) and d(-2.7±0.1), respectively. The use of nonporous and crystalline, model Al(2)O(3) and TiO(2) supports allowed the imaging of the active catalyst and enabled a precise determination of the Au particle size distribution and particle shape using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Further, the apparent reaction orders and the stretching frequency of CO adsorbed on Au(0) (near 2100 cm(-1)) determined by diffuse reflectance infrared spectroscopy (DRIFTS) depend on d. Because of the changes in reaction rates, kinetics, and the CO stretching frequency with number average Au particle size, it is determined that the dominant active sites are the low coordinated corner Au sites, which are 3 and 7 times more active than the perimeter Au sites for Au/Al(2)O(3) and Au/TiO(2) catalysts, respectively, and 10 times more active for Au on TiO(2) versus Al(2)O(3). From operando Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) experiments, it is determined that the active Au sites are metallic in nature. In addition, Au/Al(2)O(3) catalysts have a higher apparent H(2)O order (0.63) and lower apparent activation energy (9 kJ mol(-1)) than Au/TiO(2) catalysts with apparent H(2)O order of -0.42 to -0.21 and activation energy of 45-60 kJ mol(-1) at near 120 °C. From these data, we conclude that the support directly participates by activating H(2)O molecules.     

Adsorption and protonation of CO2 on partially hydroxylated gamma-Al2O3 surfaces: a density functional theory study

Adsorption and protonation of CO2 on the (110) and (100) surfaces of gamma-Al2O3 have been studied using density functional theory slab calculations. On the dry (110) and (100) surfaces, the O-Al bridge sites were found to be energetically favorable for CO2 adsorption. The adsorbed CO2 was bound in a bidentate configuration across the O-Al bridge sites, forming a carbonate species. The strongest binding with an adsorption energy of 0.80 eV occurs at the O3c-Al5c bridge site of the (100) surface. Dissociation of water across the O-Al bridge sites resulted in partially hydroxylated surfaces, and the dissociation is energetically favorable on both surfaces. Water dissociation on the (110) surface has a barrier of 0.42 eV, but the same process on the (100) surface has no barrier with respect to the isolated water molecule. On the partially hydroxylated gamma-Al2O3 surfaces, a bicarbonate species was formed by protonating the carbonate species with the protons from neighboring hydroxyl groups. The energy difference between the bicarbonate species and the coadsorbed bidentate carbonate species and hydroxyls is only 0.04 eV on the (110) surface, but the difference reaches 0.97 eV on the (100) surface. The activation barrier for forming the bicarbonate species on the (100) surface, 0.42 eV, is also lower than that on the (110) surface (0.53 eV).     

Oxidation of CO on gold supported catalysts prepared by laser vaporization: direct evidence of support contribution

Gamma-Al2O3, ZrO2, and TiO2 gold supported model catalysts have been synthesized by laser vaporization. Structural characterization using Transmission Electron Microscopy and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy experiments have shown that the gold clusters deposited on the different supports have similar distribution of size centered around 3 nm and are in the metallic state. However, X-ray photoemission measurements also indicate lower binding energies than the usual Au 4f(7/2) at 84.0 eV for both alumina and titania supported catalysts, indicating a modification of the electronic structure of the metal. One has taken benefit of these features to study the influence of the nature of the support toward CO oxidation activities without being hindered by particle size or gold oxidic species effects. By comparing the activities of the different catalysts, it is concluded that the nature of the support directly affects the activity of gold. The following tendency is observed: titania and zirconia are superior to alumina as supports, titania being slightly better than zirconia. From XPS and activity results we can conclude that the existence of negatively charged clusters is not the key point to explain the high activity observed for Au/ZrO2 and Au/TiO2 catalysts and also that metallic Au is the major catalytically active phase. Hence, due to their very nature, titania and to a less extent zirconia should participate to the catalytic process.     

Origin of Oxide sensitivity in gold-based catalysts: a first principle study of CO oxidation over Au supported on monoclinic and tetragonal ZrO2

The catalytic performance of Au/oxide catalysts can vary significantly upon the change of oxide species or under different catalyst preparation conditions. Due to its complex nature, the physical origin of this phenomenon remains largely unknown. By extensive density functional theory calculations on a model system, CO oxidation on Au/ZrO2, this work demonstrates that the oxidation reaction is very sensitive to the oxide structure. The surface structure variation due to the transformation of the oxide phase or the creation of structural defects (e.g., steps) can greatly enhance the activity. We show that CO oxidation on typical Au/ZrO2 catalysts could be dominated by minority sites, such as monoclinic steps and tetragonal surfaces, the concentration of which is closely related to the size of oxide particle. Importantly, this variation in activity is difficult to understand following the traditional rules based on the O2 adsorption ability and the oxide reducibility. Instead, electronic structure analyses allow us to rationalize the results and point toward a general measure for CO + O2 activity, namely the p-bandwidth of O2, with important implications for Au/oxide catalysis.     

CO oxidation catalyzed by a single gold atom: benchmark calculations and the performance of DFT methods

Quantum chemical calculations were carried out on CO oxidation catalyzed by a single gold atom. To investigate the performance of density functional theory (DFT) methods, 42 DFT functionals have been evaluated and compared with high-level wavefunction based methods. It was found that in order to obtain accurate results the functionals used must treat long range interaction well. The double-hybrid mPW2PLYP and B2PLYP functionals are the two functionals with best overall performance. CAM-B3LYP, a long range corrected hybrid GGA functional, also performs well. On the other hand, the popular B3LYP, PW91, and PBE functionals do not show good performance and the performance of the latter two are even at the bottom of the 42 functionals. Our accurate results calculated at the CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ//mPW2PLYP/aug-cc-pVTZ level of theory indicate that Au atom is a good catalysis for CO oxidation. The reaction follows the following mechanism where CO and O(2) adsorb on Au atom forming an Au(OCOO) intermediate and subsequently O(2) transfer one oxygen atom to CO to form CO(2) and AuO. Then AuO reacts with CO to form another CO(2) to complete the catalytic cycle. The overall energy barrier at 0 K for the first CO oxidation step (Au + CO + O(2)→ AuO + CO(2)) is just 4.8 kcal mol(-1), and that for the second CO oxidation step (AuO + CO → Au + CO(2)) is just 1.6 kcal mol(-1).     

Al2O3/Au(111)反相催化剂在CO氧化反应中界面作用的理论研究

氧化物负载的金催化剂具有温和条件下优异的CO催化氧化活性。实验与理论计算表明,金与氧化物两相界面在催化反应过程中具有重要地位。反相催化剂提供了全新的角度以探究界面的重要地位。本文以Au（111）表面负载Al₂O₃团簇为反相催化剂模型,基于密度泛函理论,对催化剂模型的构型、界面性质以及O₂、CO的吸附与氧化进行了理论计算与研究。理论计算表明：电荷的迁移增强了Al₂O₃小团簇在Au（111）表面的附着,在催化剂金表面与氧化铝的两相界面位置,Au原子与Al原子的协同作用使得氧分子易于在界面位置吸附,并因此高度活化。对催化CO氧化反应路径,分别计算了缔合机理和解离机理不同路径,从活化能分析表明缔合机理比解离机理更可能发生。本文的工作揭示了反相催化剂催化CO氧化的活性本质,表明两相界面在金催化CO氧化中具有重要作用。     

Activation of gold on titania: adsorption and reaction of SO(2) on Au/TiO(2)(110)

Synchrotron-based high-resolution photoemission and first-principles density-functional slab calculations were used to study the interaction of gold with titania and the chemistry of SO(2) on Au/TiO(2)(110) surfaces. The deposition of Au nanoparticles on TiO(2)(110) produces a system with an extraordinary ability to adsorb and dissociate SO(2). In this respect, Au/TiO(2) is much more chemically active than metallic gold or stoichiometric titania. On Au(111) and rough polycrystalline surfaces of gold, SO(2) bonds weakly and desorbs intact at temperatures below 200 K. For the adsorption of SO(2) on TiO(2)(110) at 300 K, SO(4) is the only product (SO(2) + O(oxide) --> SO(4,ads)). In contrast, Au/TiO(2)(110) surfaces (theta;(Au) < or = 0.5 ML) fully dissociate the SO(2) molecule under identical reaction conditions. Interactions with titania electronically perturb gold, making it more chemically active. Furthermore, our experimental and theoretical results show quite clearly that not only gold is perturbed when gold and titania interact. The adsorbed gold, on its part, enhances the reactivity of titania by facilitating the migration of O vacancies from the bulk to the surface of the oxide. In general, the complex coupling of these phenomena must be taken into consideration when trying to explain the unusual chemical and catalytic activity of Au/TiO(2). In many situations, the oxide support can be much more than a simple spectator.     

Catalytic oxidation activity of Pt3O4 surfaces and thin films

The catalytic oxidation activity of platinum particles in automobile catalysts is thought to originate from the presence of highly reactive superficial oxide phases which form under oxygen-rich reaction conditions. Here we study the thermodynamic stability of platinum oxide surfaces and thin films and their reactivities toward oxidation of carbon compounds by means of first-principles atomistic thermodynamics calculations and molecular dynamics simulations based on density functional theory. On the Pt(111) surface the most stable superficial oxide phase is found to be a thin layer of alpha-PtO2, which appears not to be reactive toward either methane dissociation or carbon monoxide oxidation. A PtO-like structure is most stable on the Pt(100) surface at oxygen coverages of one monolayer, while the formation of a coherent and stress-free Pt3O4 film is favored at higher coverages. Bulk Pt3O4 is found to be thermodynamically stable in a region around 900 K at atmospheric pressure. The computed net driving force for the dissociation of methane on the Pt3O4(100) surface is much larger than that on all other metallic and oxide surfaces investigated. Moreover, the enthalpy barrier for the adsorption of CO molecules on oxygen atoms of this surface is as low as 0.34 eV, and desorption of CO2 is observed to occur without any appreciable energy barrier in molecular dynamics simulations. These results, combined, indicate a high catalytic oxidation activity of Pt3O4 phases that can be relevant in the contexts of Pt-based automobile catalysts and gas sensors.     

La2O3助剂对Au/TiO2催化氧化CO性能的影响

采用溶胶-凝胶法制备了TiO2以及La2O3-TiO2载体, 再用沉积沉淀法制备Au/TiO2和Au/La2O3-TiO2催化剂, 并对催化剂的CO氧化反应活性进行测试. 结果表明, La2O3助剂可以显著提高催化剂催化氧化CO的活性. X射线衍射(XRD)、程序升温脱附(TPD)、N2吸附-脱附(BET)表征结果表明, La2O3助剂不仅提高了催化剂比表面积, 抑制了TiO2晶粒尺寸的长大, 并且增强了TiO2的晶格应变, 在O2气氛吸附过程中主要在TiO2表面形成O-物种. 原位傅立叶变换红外(FT-IR)结果进一步表明, La的掺杂不仅提高了吸附在Au活性位CO的氧化速率, 还使TiO2表面形成第二种活性位, 从而显著提高了催化活性.     

CO在Pd平板与Pd38团簇表面上的催化氧化机理研究

采用密度泛函理论(DFT)计算模拟Pd平板和Pd_(38)团簇上的CO催化氧化过程,分析了CO在Pd催化剂表面上的氧化反应机理。结果表明,在Pd_(38)团簇模型上CO催化氧化的决速步骤是O_2的解离,反应能垒为0.65 eV,而在Pd平板模型上的决速步骤是CO的氧化,其反应能垒为0.87 eV。对比决速步骤的活化能发现,CO在Pd_(38)团簇上的氧化反应更易进行,说明CO氧化更易在小颗粒催化剂表面上进行,即Pd催化剂的活性与活性组分颗粒大小相关,活性组分颗粒越小,暴露的活性位点越多,其催化活性也越高。