Atomic-Scale Studies of Fe3 O4 (001) and TiO2 (110) Surfaces Following Immersion in CO2 -Acidified Water

Stability of Iridium Single Atoms on Fe3O4(001) in the mbar Pressure Range

Stable single metal adatoms on oxide surfaces are of great interest for future applications in the field of catalysis. We studied iridium single atoms (Ir1) supported on a Fe3O4(001) single crystal, a model system previously only studied in ultra-high vacuum, to explore their behavior upon exposure to several gases in the millibar range (up to 20 mbar) utilizing ambient-pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The Ir1 single adatoms appear stable upon exposure to a variety of common gases at room temperature, including oxygen (O2), hydrogen (H2), nitrogen (N2), carbon monoxide (CO), argon (Ar), and water vapor. Changes in the Ir 4f binding energy suggest that Ir1 interacts not only with adsorbed and dissociated molecules but also with water/OH groups and adventitious carbon species deposited inevitably under these pressure conditions. At higher temperatures (473 K), iridium adatom encapsulation takes place in an oxidizing environment (a partial O2 pressure of 0.1 mbar). We attribute this phenomenon to magnetite growth caused by the enhanced diffusion of iron cations near the surface. These findings provide an initial understanding of the behavior of single atoms on metal oxides outside the UHV regime.

Pair Sites on Nodes of Metal-Organic Framework hcp UiO-66 Catalyze tert-Butyl Alcohol Dehydration

On metal oxide cluster nodes of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), sites not bonded to linkers (e.g., defects and structural vacancies) control reactivity and catalysis. Attention has been focused on isolated, individual sites, but pair sites have been largely overlooked. We now show that the MOF hcp UiO-66, which incorporates dimeric Zr₆O₈ nodes bridged by μ₂-OH groups, is an excellent platform for identifying and controlling adjacent sites consisting of OH groups and Zr⁴⁺ sites, which catalyze tert-butyl alcohol dehydration much more rapidly than isolated single sites.

Atomic-Scale Studies of Fe3 O4 (001) and TiO2 (110) Surfaces Following Immersion in CO2 -Acidified Water

Difficulties associated with the integration of liquids into a UHV environment make surface-science style studies of mineral dissolution particularly challenging. Recently, we developed a novel experimental setup for the UHV-compatible dosing of ultrapure liquid water and studied its interaction with TiO2 and Fe3 O4 surfaces. Herein, we describe a simple approach to vary the pH through the partial pressure of CO2 ( p C O 2 ) in the surrounding vacuum chamber and use this to study how these surfaces react to an acidic solution. The TiO2 (110) surface is unaffected by the acidic solution, except for a small amount of carbonaceous contamination. The Fe3 O4 (001)-( 2 × 2 )R45° surface begins to dissolve at a pH 4.0-3.9 ( p C O 2 =0.8-1 bar) and, although it is significantly roughened, the atomic-scale structure of the Fe3 O4 (001) surface layer remains visible in scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) images. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) reveals that the surface is chemically reduced and contains a significant accumulation of bicarbonate (HCO3 - ) species. These observations are consistent with Fe(II) being extracted by bicarbonate ions, leading to dissolved iron bicarbonate complexes (Fe(HCO3 )2 ), which precipitate onto the surface when the water evaporates.