AVS 53rd International Symposium
    Surface Science Tuesday Sessions
       Session SS1-TuM

Paper SS1-TuM11
The Structure of Catalytically Active Gold

Tuesday, November 14, 2006, 11:20 am, Room 2002

Session: Reactivity of Metal Clusters
Presenter: M.S. Chen, Texas A&M University
Authors: M.S. Chen, Texas A&M University
D.W. Goodman, Texas A&M University
Correspondent: Click to Email
Well-ordered Au mono- and bi-layer films were synthesized on a TiOx/Mo(112). The wetting of Au on the (8x2)-TiOx is clearly evidenced by recent STM studies, and the ordered (1x1) mono- and (1x3) bi-layer structures are atomic resolved. The electronic and chemical properties of these ordered Au films were characterized by IRAS using CO as a probe molecule and UPS. Kinetic measurements for the catalytic oxidation of carbon monoxide show that the Au bi-layer structure is significantly more active (by more than an order of magnitude) than the monolayer, and is about 45 times higher than that reported for the most active higher-surface-area Au/TiO2 catalyst. The common structural features of ordered Au bi-layers and Au bi-layer nanoparticles on TiO2(110) are described, the nature of the active site and structure of supported Au catalysts are discussed, and the exceptionally high catalytic activity of the Au bi-layer structure are related to its unique electronic properties.