Nanoparticles of amorphous ruthenium sulfide easily obtainable from a TiO2-supported hexanuclear cluster complex [Ru6C(CO)16]2-: a highly active catalyst for the reduction of SO2 with H2

TiO(2)-supported ruthenium-metal particles were derived from an anionic hexanuclear carbido carbonyl cluster [Ru(6)C(CO)(16)](2-) and compared with those prepared conventionally by impregnation of TiO(2) with a solution of RuCl(3) followed by reduction with H(2). The average sizes of the metal particles in both systems are similar, that is, 12 A for molecular cluster-derived particles and 15 A for those derived from the RuCl(3) precursor, although the size distribution is sharper in the former case. These supported particles efficiently promote the reduction of SO(2) with H(2) to give elemental sulfur. Their active form is ruthenium sulfide as confirmed by EXAFS and X-ray diffraction measurements. The nanoscale ruthenium sulfide particles, which originated from the cluster complex, have an amorphous character and show activity even at low temperature (463 K), whereas ruthenium sulfide formed from RuCl(3)-derived metal dispersion is a pyrite-type RuS(2) crystallite and needs a temperature above 513 K to effect the same catalysis. Amorphous ruthenium sulfide maintains its nano-sized scale (approximately 14 A) regardless of the reaction temperature, while RuS(2) crystallite aggregates to form larger nonuniform particles.     

Coverage effects and the nature of the metal-sulfur bond in S/Au(111): high-resolution photoemission and density-functional studies

The bonding of sulfur to surfaces of gold is an important subject in several areas of chemistry, physics, and materials science. Synchrotron-based high-resolution photoemission and first-principles density-functional (DF) slab calculations were used to study the interaction of sulfur with a well-defined Au(111) surface and polycrystalline gold. Our experimental and theoretical results show a complex behavior for the sulfur/Au(111) interface as a function of coverage and temperature. At small sulfur coverages, the adsorption of S on fcc hollow sites of the gold substrate is energetically more favorable than adsorption on bridge or a-top sites. Under these conditions, S behaves as a weak electron acceptor but substantially reduces the density-of-states that gold exhibits near the Fermi edge. As the sulfur coverage increases, there is a weakening of the Au-S bonds (with a simultaneous reduction in the Au --> S charge transfer and a modification in the S sp hybridization) that facilitates changes in adsorption site and eventually leads to S-S bonding. At sulfur coverages above 0.4 ML, S(2) and not atomic S is the more stable species on the gold surface. Formation of S(n)(n > 2) species occurs at sulfur coverages higher than a monolayer. Very similar trends were observed for the adsorption of sulfur on polycrystalline surfaces of gold. The S atoms bonded to Au(111) display a unique mobility/reactivity not seen on surfaces of early or late transition metals.     

Nanoscale relaxation in Ru–Si growth on a silicon (111) surface

The formation and growth of Ru–Si islands were observed on a ruthenium‐deposited Si(111) surface during successive cycles of heating for 30 s at 1423 K and cooling. Lateral and vertical growth is analysed. The large lattice mismatch of small Ru2Si3 islands with the Si substrate modulates a Volmer–Weber type growth mode. When the islands are large, Ru2Si3 crystals are situated on a metastable buffer layer. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

In situ STM study of Au(111)/Os bimetallic surfaces: spontaneous deposition and electrochemical dissolution

We provide an electrochemical and structural characterization by in situ STM of Au(111)/Os electrodes prepared by spontaneous deposition of Os on Au(111). Surfaces with Os coverage values up to the saturation coverage were examined, from 10%. Using comparisons to previous work on Au(111)/Ru, Pt(111)/Ru, and Pt(111)/Os, we find that we may now generalize that Os deposits spontaneously faster than Ru and has a greater tendency to form 3-D structures. Additionally, the Au(111) substrate shows preferential step and near-step decoration in both cases, although it is less pronounced for Os than Ru. We also investigated the incremental dissolution of the Os from Au(111), to better understand electrochemical dissolution processes in general and to better control the Os deposit structure. The application of controlled electrochemical treatments (cyclic voltammetry up to increasingly positive values) significantly increased the dispersion of the Os deposit by generating smaller, more widely spaced islands. Upon voltammetry up to 0.75 V, the Au(111)/Os surface showed evidence of alloying and the formation of 3-D structures suggestive of strong Os-Os (oxidized) species interactions. The CO stripping results show the Au(111)/Os is not particularly effective for this reaction, but such results help to complete the overall picture of NM-NM catalytic combinations. Although the Au(111)/Os system itself is not catalytically active, the electrochemical manipulation of the deposit structure demonstrated here may be applied to other noble metal/noble metal (NM/NM) catalytic substrates to find optimal deposit morphologies.     

Decorated Ru/Au(111) and Os/Au(111) surfaces: An in situ STM and electrochemistry study

The structure and reactivity of bimetallic electrodes obtained by spontaneous deposition of Ru and Os on Au(111) single-crystal surfaces are studied. In situ electrochemical STM and cyclic voltammetry are used to characterize a wide range of surface morphologies thus produced. The STM results on Ru/Au(111) demonstrate a pronounced step decoration, while a random distribution of Ru nuclei, quite uniform in size, occurs on terraces. Osmium deposits show a slight preference for deposition on steps, but it also occurs readily on terraces. However, many of the Os islands grow into multilayer heights. The coverage of the Au(111) by the deposited Ru or Os islands for a particular solution concentration depends on the deposition time. Nanostructures of Ru and Os are tested for catalytic behavior and correlated to CO oxidation activity as measured by CO stripping voltammetry. Published in Russian in Elektrokhimiya, 2006, Vol. 42, No. 11, pp. 1385–1392. Based on the report delivered at the 8th International Frumkin Symposium “Kinetics of the Electrode Processes,” October 18–22, 2005, Moscow. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Surface structural and chemical characterization of Pt/Ru composite electrodes: a combined study by XPS, STM and IR spectroscopy

Electrochemical Ru deposits on Pt(111) surfaces are investigated by STM; the images of the Ru-modified surfaces show islands of monoatomic height and between 2–5 nm in diameter. The density of islands on the surface depends on the Ru deposition potential (observed by STM and XRSD) and the cyclic voltammograms indicate an increasing Ru coverage for lower deposition potentials. The Ru surface coverage is determined by ex-situ XPS measurements and a linear dependence of the Ru coverage on the deposition potential is demonstrated. IR spectra of a monolayer of adsorbed CO on the Ru-modified Pt(111) surfaces show distinct bands for CO adsorbed on Pt and on Ru. For the integrated band intensity of the CO/Ru vibration a linear dependence on deposition potential is found indicating that lateral dipole interactions between CO adsorbed on Pt and Ru are unimportant and that the CO coverage on the Ru islands is constant for the Ru coverages investigated. The possibility of using adsorbate vibrational bands for the determination of the coverage of deposits is discussed. Received: 24 June 1996 / Revised: 6 December 1996 / Accepted: 12 December 1996     

The structure, growth and reactivity of electrodeposited Ru/Au(111) surfaces

In order to elucidate electronic effects on the oxidation of CO on small Ru clusters, we investigated this reaction on well defined Ru/Au(111) model systems via parallel in-situ STM studies of the structure and electrochemical deposition of Ru on Au(111) in H₂SO₄ solution and cyclic voltammetry of CO monolayer oxidation on these surfaces. The Ru deposit consists of nanoscale islands, which coalesce with increasing coverage. The Ru saturation coverage depends on the deposition potential, resulting in Ru submonolayer (>0.1 V), (defective) monolayer (≥−0.1 V), and multilayer films (<−0.1 V). At potentials >0.6 V irreversible formation of Ru oxide/hydroxide species is observed, which can be partly reduced in the range 0.4 to 0.0 V. CO stripping commences at ≈0.1 V and occurs over a broad potential range. From the stripping charge a local CO coverage on the Ru monolayer islands of 0.7 ML was estimated. The observed influence of the morphology of the Ru deposit on the CO stripping voltammetry is explained by (local) variations in the CO adsorption energy due to electronic modifications of the Ru film.     

Au/Al2O3催化剂的制备及其在CH4/CO2重整反应中的催化活性

采用浸渍法和沉积－沉淀法制备了四种不同的Au/Al2O3催化剂，测定了它们在氢气还原前后及催化反应后的金含量及比表面积，结果表明，制备方法明显影响催化剂的金含量，应用X－光粉末衍射技术研究了这些催化剂经还原处理及反应后的物相变化，金以Au^0物相存在，没有发现氧化态的金物相，考察了该催化剂在CH4／CO2重整反应中的催化活性，发现金催化剂的活性取决于金粒子的大小，浸渍法制备的金催化剂具有较大的金晶粒尺寸，催化活性低，沉积－沉淀法制备的金催化剂金晶粒尺寸较小，催化活性较高，以尿素为沉淀剂制备的催化剂给出1073K时的CH4和CO2转化率分别为8．1％和17．6％，高温反应不仅导致金晶粒的聚集，而且存在明显的金流失现象。     

Grafting and thermal stripping of organo-bimetallic clusters on AU surfaces: toward controlled CO/RU aggregates

The controlled stoichiometry of heterometallic carbonyl clusters make them attractive precursors for the stabilization of bare metal alloy clusters for magnetic applications. The mixed-metal molecular cluster [RuCo3(H)(CO)12] has been functionalized with the phosphane-thiol ligand Ph2PCH2CH2SH to allow subsequent anchoring on a gold surface. The resulting tetrahedral cluster [RuCo3(H)(CO)11(Ph2PCH2CH2SH)] (1) has been characterized by X-ray diffraction and the P-monodentate ligand is axially bound to a cobalt center and trans to the ruthenium cap. This synthesis also yielded the product of oxidative coupling, in which two SH groups were coupled intermolecularly to give a disulfide ligand that links two tetrahedral cluster units in [{RuCo3(H)(CO)11(Ph2PCH2CH2S)}2] (2). This cluster has also been characterized by X-ray diffractions studies. After deposition of 1 on a Au(111) surface by self-assembly, the carbonyl ligands were stripped off by thermal annealing in ultra-high vacuum (UHV) to form a metallic species. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic measurements performed as a function of the annealing temperature show that the cobalt and ruthenium centers converge towards metallic character and that the stoichiometry of the alloy is retained during the annealing process. Preliminary X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) synchrotron experiments indicate that clusters 1 and 2 behave similarly, which is consistent with the retention of their tetrahedral units on the gold surface after transformation of the thiol function or breaking of the disulfide bond to form Au--S bonds, respectively, has occurred.     

Alkanethiol/Au(111) self-assembled monolayers contain gold adatoms: scanning tunneling microscopy before and after reaction with atomic hydrogen

Alkanethiol self-assembled monolayers on Au(111) are widely studied, yet the exact nature of the sulfur-gold bond is still debated. Recent studies suggest that Au(111) is significantly reconstructed, with alkanethiol molecules binding to gold adatoms on the surface. These adatoms are observed using scanning tunneling microscopy before and after removing the organic monolayer with an atomic hydrogen beam. Upon monolayer removal, changes in the gold substrate are seen in the formation of bright, triangularly shaped islands, decreasing size of surface vacancy islands, and faceting of terrace edges. A 0.143 +/- 0.033 increase in gold coverage after monolayer removal shows that there is one additional gold adatom for every two octanethiol molecules on the surface.     

Efficient CO oxidation at low temperature on Au(111)

The rate of CO oxidation to CO2 depends strongly on the reaction temperature and characteristics of the oxygen overlayer on Au(111). The factors that contribute to the temperature dependence in the oxidation rate are (1) the residence time of CO on the surface, (2) the island size containing Au-O complexes, and (3) the local properties, including the degree of order of the oxygen layer. Three different types of oxygen--defined as chemisorbed oxygen, a surface oxide, and a bulk oxide--are identified and shown to have different reactivity. The relative populations of the various oxygen species depend on the preparation temperature and the oxygen coverage. The highest rate of CO oxidation was observed for an initial oxygen coverage of 0.5 monolayers that was deposited at 200 K where the density of chemisorbed oxygen is maximized. The rate decreases when two-dimensional islands of the surface oxide are populated and further decreases when three-dimensional bulk gold oxide forms. Our results are significant for designing catalytic processes that use Au for CO oxidation, because they suggest that the most efficient oxidation of CO occurs at low temperature--even below room temperature--as long as oxygen could be adsorbed on the surface.     

Structure of incommensurate gold sulfide monolayer on Au(111)

We develop an atomic-scale model for an ordered incommensurate gold sulfide (AuS) adlayer which has previously been demonstrated to exist on the Au(111) surface, following sulfur deposition and annealing to 450 K. Our model reproduces experimental scanning tunneling microscopy images. Using state-of-the-art Wannier-function-based techniques, we analyze the nature of bonding in this structure and provide an interpretation of the unusual stoichiometry of the gold sulfide layer. The proposed structure and its chemistry have implications for related S-Au interfaces, as in those involved in self-assembled monolayers of thiols on Au substrates.     

L-cysteine adsorption structures on Au(111) investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy under ultrahigh vacuum conditions

Adsorption structures formed upon vapor deposition of the natural amino acid L-cysteine onto the (111) surface of gold have been investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy under ultrahigh vacuum conditions. Following deposition at room temperature and at cysteine coverages well below saturation of the first monolayer, we found coexistence of unordered molecular islands and extended domains of a highly ordered molecular overlayer of quadratic symmetry. As the coverage was increased, a number of other structures with local hexagonal order emerged and became dominant. Neither of the room temperature, as-deposited, ordered structures showed any fixed rotational relationship to the underlying gold substrate, suggesting a comparatively weak and nonspecific molecule-substrate interaction. Annealing of the cysteine-covered substrate to 380 K lead to marked changes in the observed adsorption structures. At low coverages, the unordered islands developed internal order and their presence started to perturb the appearance of the surrounding Au(111) herringbone reconstruction. At coverages beyond saturation of the first monolayer, annealing led to development of a ( radical3 x radical3)R30 degrees superstructure accompanied by the formation of characteristic monatomically deep etch pits, i.e., the behavior typically observed for alkanethiol self-assembled monolayers on Au(111). The data thus show that as-deposited and thermally annealed cysteine adsorption structures are quite different and suggest that thermal activation is required before vacuum deposited cysteine becomes covalently bound to single crystalline Au(111).     

Formation of ordered self-assembled monolayers by adsorption of octylthiocyanates on Au(111)

Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) were formed by the spontaneous adsorption of octythiocyanate (OTC) on Au(111) using both solution and ambient-pressure vapor deposition methods at room temperature and 50 degrees C. The surface structures and adsorption characteristics of the OTC SAMs on Au(111) were characterized by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The STM observation showed that OTC SAMs formed in solution at room temperature have unique surface structures including the formation of ordered and disordered domains, vacancy islands, and structural defects. Moreover, we revealed for the first time that the adsorption of OTC on Au(111) in solution at 50 degrees C led to the formation of SAMs containing small ordered domains, whereas the SAMs formed by vapor deposition at 50 degrees C had long-range ordered domains, which can be described as (radical3 x 2 radical19)R5 degrees structures. XPS measurements of the peaks in the S 2p and N 1s regions for the OTC SAMs showed that vapor deposition is the more effective method as compared to solution deposition for obtaining high-quality SAMs by adsorption of OTC on gold. The results obtained will be very useful in understanding the SAM formation of organic thiocyanates on gold surfaces.     

纳米金催化剂的抗水性能和抗硫中毒性能

与Au/Al2O3相比,复合载体负载的Au/FeOx/Al2O3具有更高的催化CO氧化的低温活性和稳定性,且表现出湿度增强效果,水分压为550~1 600 Pa时催化剂活性较高.在完全无水的环境中,催化剂发生快速不可逆失活;在饱和水汽的环境中,催化剂发生缓慢可逆失活.在水汽作用下的失活与纳米金粒子的粒径长大有关.助剂对催化剂抗水性能影响不大,但对抗硫中毒性能的影响较大.Au/CeO2/Al2O3催化剂显示有最佳的抗硫中毒性能.催化剂表面硫化物和硫酸盐的生成是导致催化剂不可逆硫中毒失活的主要原因.     

CO adsorption and reaction on clean and oxygen-covered Au(211) surfaces

We have used primarily temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) and infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy (IRAS) to investigate CO adsorption on a Au(211) stepped single-crystal surface. The Au(211) surface can be described as a step-terrace structure consisting of three-atom-wide terraces of (111) orientation and a monatomic step with a (100) orientation, or 3(111) x (100) in microfacet notation. CO was only weakly adsorbed but was more strongly bound at step sites (12 kcal mol(-1)) than at terrace sites (6.5-9 kcal mol(-1)). The sticking coefficient of CO on the Au(211) surface was also higher ( approximately 5x) during occupation of step sites compared to populating terrace sites at higher coverages. The nu(CO) stretching band energy in IRAS spectra indicated that CO was adsorbed at atop sites at all coverages and conditions. A small red shift of nu(CO) from 2126 to 2112 cm(-1) occurred with increasing CO coverage on the surface. We conclude that the presence of these particular step sites at the Au(211) surface imparts stronger CO bonding and a higher reactivity than on the flat Au(111) surface, but these changes are not remarkable compared to chemistry on other more reactive crystal planes or other stepped Au surfaces. Thus, it is unlikely that the presence or absence of this particular crystal plane alone at the surface of supported Au nanoparticles has much to do with the remarkable properties of highly active Au catalysts.     

In Situ dynamic monitoring of electrochemical oxidative adsorption and reductive desorption processes of a self-assembled monolayer of hexanethiol on a Au(111) surface in KOH ethanol solution by scanning tunneling microscopy

Electrochemical oxidative formation and reductive desorption processes of a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of hexanethiol on a Au(111) surface in KOH ethanol solutions containing various concentrations of hexanethiol were investigated by in situ scanning tunneling microscopy in real time. The generation and disappearance of vacancy islands (VIs), corresponding to the formation and desorption of the SAM, respectively, were observed as anodic and cathodic current, respectively, flowed when the thiol concentration was higher than ca. 1 microM. When the VIs disappeared after the reductive desorption of the SAMs, the herringbone structure corresponding to the (radical3 x 23) structure of Au(111), was observed on the surface, indicating that a clean reconstructed surface was exposed even in the hexanethiol ethanol solution. During both oxidative adsorption and reductive desorption of the SAMs, the shape of the steps of the gold substrate changed drastically and the step lines became parallel to the 121 direction of the Au(111) surface, suggesting that gold atoms on the surface were extremely mobile during these processes. The coalescence of adjacent vacancy islands and growth of larger islands triangular in shape accompanied with the disappearance of nearby smaller islands were observed, confirming that the VIs grew according to the Ostward ripening model.     

Characterization and methanol electrooxidation studies of Pt(111)/Os surfaces prepared by spontaneous deposition

Catalytic activity of the Pt(111)/Os surface toward methanol electrooxidation was optimized by exploring a wide range of Os coverage. Various methods of surface analyses were used, including electroanalytical, STM, and XPS methods. The Pt(111) surface was decorated with nanosized Os islands by spontaneous deposition, and the Os coverage was controlled by changing the exposure time to the Os-containing electrolyte. The structure of Os deposits on Pt(111) was characterized and quantified by in situ STM and stripping voltammetry. We found that the optimal Os surface coverage of Pt(111) for methanol electrooxidation was 0.7 +/- 0.1 ML, close to 1.0 +/- 0.1 Os packing density. Apparently, the high osmium coverage Pt(111)/Os surface provides more of the necessary oxygen-containing species (e.g., Os-OH) for effective methanol electrooxidation than the Pt(111)/Os surfaces with lower Os coverage (vs e.g., Ru-OH). Supporting evidence for this conjecture comes from the CO electrooxidation data, which show that the onset potential for CO stripping is lowered from 0.53 to 0.45 V when the Os coverage is increased from 0.2 to 0.7 ML. However, the activity of Pt(111)/Os for methanol electrooxidation decreases when the Os coverage is higher than 0.7 +/- 0.1 ML, indicating that Pt sites uncovered by Os are necessary for sustaining significant methanol oxidation rates. Furthermore, osmium is inactive for methanol electrooxidation when the platinum substrate is absent: Os deposits on Au(111), a bulk Os ingot, and thick films of electrodeposited Os on Pt(111), all compare poorly to Pt(111)/Os. We conclude that a bifunctional mechanism applies to the methanol electrooxidation similarly to Pt(111)/Ru, although with fewer available Pt sites. Finally, the potential window for methanol electrooxidation on Pt(111)/Os was observed to shift positively versus Pt(111)/Ru. Because of the difference in the Os and Ru oxophilicity under electrochemical conditions, the Os deposit provides fewer oxygen-containing species, at least below 0.5 V vs RHE. Both higher coverage of Os than Ru and the higher potentials are required to provide a sufficient number of active oxygen-containing species for the effective removal of the site-blocking CO from the catalyst surface when the methanol electrooxidation process occurs.     

单原子分散的Au/Cu(111)表面合金的表面结构与吸附性质

Au-Cu双金属合金纳米颗粒对包括CO氧化和CO2还原等在内的多个反应有较好的催化活性,然而关于其表面性质的研究却相当匮乏。在此工作中,我们通过对低覆盖度的Au/Cu(111)和Cu/Au(111)双金属薄膜退火,制备出了单原子级分散的Au/Cu(111)和Cu/Au(111)合金化表面,并利用高分辨扫描隧道显微镜(STM)和扫描隧道谱(STS)进一步研究了掺杂原子的电子性质及其对CO吸附行为的影响。研究发现,分散在Cu(111)表面的表层和次表层Au单原子在STM上表现出不同衬度。在-0.5 e V附近,前者表现出相较于Cu(111)明显增强的电子态密度,而后者则明显减弱。吸附实验表明表层Au单原子对CO的吸附能力并没有得到增强,甚至会减弱其周围Cu原子的吸附能力。与Au在Cu(111)表面较好的分散相反,Cu原子倾向于钻入Au(111)的次表层,并且形成多原子聚集体。且Cu原子受Au(111)衬底吸电子作用的影响,其对CO的吸附能力明显减弱。这个研究结果揭示了合金表面的微观结构与性质的关联,为进一步阐明Au-Cu双金属催化剂的表面反应机理提供参考。     

Gold catalyzed reduction of a hexavalent aromatic sulfonyl phthalimide to sulfur

The reduction of N-(p-fluorobenzenesulfonyl)phthalimide on polycrystalline gold and Au(111) was studied. Our key finding is the decomposition of the compound on the surface, leaving only sulfur behind. This was supported by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The modification leads to observation by STM of well-known as well as new phases for the S modified Au(111) surface.