AVS 50th International Symposium
    Surface Science Tuesday Sessions
       Session SS-TuP

Paper SS-TuP32
Synthesis of a Sinter Resistant Mixed-oxide Support for Au Nanoclusters

Tuesday, November 4, 2003, 5:30 pm, Room Hall A-C

Session: Poster Session
Presenter: B.K. Min, Texas A&M University
Authors: B.K. Min, Texas A&M University
A.K. Santra, Texas A&M University
D.W. Goodman, Texas A&M University
Correspondent: Click to Email
The synthesis of a sinter-resistant oxide support for Au clusters has been explored using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Nano-sized Au clusters supported on a reducible oxide such as TiO2 are active catalysts for CO oxidation; however, rapid deactivation occurs at reaction conditions due to an increase in the cluster size. To prevent this deactivation, a sinter-resistant oxide support has been synthesized by patterning oxide domains consisting of small islands of a strongly-interacting support (TiO2) on second weakly-interacting oxide (SiO2). The size of the TiO2 domains can be controlled by the amount of Ti deposited. The Au nanoclusters preferentially decorate the TiO2 domains and are resistance to sintering when exposed to elevated pressures of O2, CO, and mixtures of the two gases under reaction conditions.