Catalytic Activities of Au6, , and Clusters for CO oxidation: A density functional study

We have studied the CO oxidation over neutral, anionic, and cationic gold hexamer clusters using density functional theory which elucidates the effect of cluster charge state on the catalytic activity. Herein, we have considered the conventional bimolecular Langmuir–Hinshelwood mechanism with coadsorbed CO and O₂ at the neighboring sites in all the clusters. Among the three clusters, entails lower barriers during the various steps of the oxidation mechanism. The stability of all the species including the transition states with respect to the interacting species in indicates no thermal activation. Our study suggests better catalytic activity of as compared to the neutral and cationic counterparts. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.