AVS 56th International Symposium & Exhibition
    Surface Science Tuesday Sessions
       Session SS1-TuM

Paper SS1-TuM9
The Growth and Structure of Ceria Islands on Cu(111)

Tuesday, November 10, 2009, 10:40 am, Room M

Session: Oxide Surfaces: Reactions and Structure
Presenter: F. Yang, Brookhaven National Laboratory
Authors: F. Yang, Brookhaven National Laboratory
J. Graciani, Brookhaven National Laboratory
S. Senanayake, Brookhaven National Laboratory
J.B. Park, Brookhaven National Laboratory
D.J. Stacchiola, Brookhaven National Laboratory
P.J. Liu, Brookhaven National Laboratory
J. Hrbek, Brookhaven National Laboratory
J.A. Rodriguez, Brookhaven National Laboratory
Correspondent: Click to Email
Ceria-based catalysts are widely used for a number of catalytic reactions, such as the water gas shift reaction (CO + H2O → H2 + CO2) or CO oxidation (CO + 1/2 O2 → CO2). Recently, it has been reported that ceria nanoparticles supported on Au(111) are much more efficient for the water gas shift reaction than the oxide or metal alone. In this work, we investigate the CeOx/Cu(111) system as a model for Cu-CeO2 water-gas shift catalysts. Using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), we study the nucleation and growth of ceria islands on the Cu(111) surface. Ce is vapor-deposited on Cu(111) under an atmosphere of O2 (~ 1 × 10-7 Torr) at different temperatures (300-600 K). We show how the geometric structures of ceria islands could be changed by altering the growth kinetics. We also show the evolution of the morphology when the CeOx/Cu(111) surface interacts with CO or H2O. Through an interplay with density functional theory (DFT) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), the structure of supported ceria islands will be described.