AVS 63rd International Symposium & Exhibition
    Surface Science Monday Sessions
       Session SS+AS+HC-MoM

Invited Paper SS+AS+HC-MoM3
Controlled Reactions of Coordination Complexes on Oxide Surfaces

Monday, November 7, 2016, 9:00 am, Room 104E

Session: Mechanistic Insights on Surface Reactions in Catalysis and at Novel Interfaces
Presenter: Susannah Scott, University of California at Santa Barbara
Correspondent: Click to Email
The reactions of coordination complexes with functional groups on oxide surfaces (acidic and basic hydroxyl groups, Lewis acidic cations and Lewis basic oxide anions) can lead to anchored metal complexes with a high degree of uniformity when conducted under carefully controlled conditions (low-to-moderate temperatures, absence of moisture and/or O2). Detailed characterization of these sites using spectroscopic methods, elemental analysis and reactivity studies leads to information about their structure and insight into the underlying structure of the oxide surface. Experiments with gold and silver complexes such as Me2Au(acac) and Ag(acac) reveal that interactions with surface hydroxyls involving strong H-bonding to ligand donor atoms are primarily responsible for their dispersion as isolated metal sites. By modulating the hydroxyl density via thermal pretreatment, it is possible to control not only the surface density of metal atoms, but also their subsequent mobility. In the case of nucleation and subsequent autocatalytic growth of metal nanoparticles, it is possible to exert control over particle size via the initial metal complex-oxide surface interaction.