Effect of oxygen on the production of abnormally high heats of interaction with hydrogen chemisorbed on gold

Abnormally high heats, exceeding 1600 kJ/mol (16 eV) per molecular oxygen, are generated by interaction of the oxygen with the hydrogen adsorbed on gold surfaces at 125 °C. The highest heats were observed during the interactions of fine gold particles supported on titanium oxide, approaching 1700 kJ/mol for three consecutive 100 nmol pulses of O₂ interacting with the adsorbed hydrogen atoms. The heats rapidly decrease after the hydrogen is consumed. It was also observed that the interactions of the gold particles with pure oxygen in the presence of noble gases, such as argon and helium, produced the heats markedly higher than those observed in the absence of noble gases. The abnormally high heats revealed by this work reach values from 3.5 to 6.1 times higher than the heats of formation of gaseous water from molecular hydrogen and oxygen.