AVS 58th Annual International Symposium and Exhibition
    Surface Science Division Tuesday Sessions
       Session SS1-TuM

Paper SS1-TuM11
Adsorption and Dissociation of Propane-1, 3-diol Molecules on Reduced TiO2(110) Surface- A Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Study

Tuesday, November 1, 2011, 11:20 am, Room 109

Session: Chemisorption & Surface Reactions
Presenter: Danda Acharya, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Authors: D. Acharya, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
X. Lin, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
B.D. Kay, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Z. Dohnálek, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Z. Zhang, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Correspondent: Click to Email
Rutile TiO2(110) surface is one of the most studied model systems for the fundamental investigations of a variety of processes on metal oxide surfaces, including heterogeneous catalysis, greenhouse gas reforming, solar cells, photodecomposition of organic pollutants, and photoinduced water splitting. It is widely accepted that the surface chemistry of the oxide surfaces are mainly influenced by the defects sites, particularly oxygen vacancies. Here we study the adsorption of propane-1,3-diol molecules on partially reduced rutile TiO2(110) surface using variable temperature scanning tunneling microscope (STM). STM images obtained before and after in-situ dose of propane-1,3-diol molecules at room temperature shows that the molecule preferentially binds at the bridging oxygen vacancies via bond scission of one of the OH groups. The hindered rotation of the 3-hydroxypropoxide species was seen at room temperature, while the diffusion and dissociation of the species were observed at elevated temperatures. The experiment was carried out at the Environmental Molecular Science Laboratory, a National Scientific user facility supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Biological and Environmental Research at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.