Catalytic oxidation of hydrogen on free platinum clusters

Free electron laser infrared action spectroscopy of nitrous oxide binding to platinum clusters, Ptn(N2O)+

Infrared multiple-photon dissociation spectroscopy has been applied to study Pt_n(N₂O)⁺ (n = 1–8) clusters which represent entrance-channel complexes on the reactive potential energy surface for nitrous oxide decomposition on platinum.

Metal Cluster Models for Heterogeneous Catalysis: A Matrix-Isolation Perspective

Metal cluster models are of high relevance for establishing new mechanistic concepts for heterogeneous catalysis. The high reactivity and particular selectivity of metal clusters is caused by the wealth of low-lying electronically excited states that are often thermally populated. Thereby the metal clusters are flexible with regard to their electronic structure and can adjust their states to be appropriate for the reaction with a particular substrate. The matrix isolation technique is ideally suited for studying excited state reactivity. The low matrix temperatures (generally 4-40 K) of the noble gas matrix host guarantee that all clusters are in their electronic ground-state (with only a very few exceptions). Electronically excited states can then be selectively populated and their reactivity probed. Unfortunately, a systematic research in this direction has not been made up to date. The purpose of this review is to provide the grounds for a directed approach to understand cluster reactivity through matrix-isolation studies combined with quantum chemical calculations.

Enhanced catalytic activity toward O₂ reduction on Pt-modified La₁-xSrxCo₁-yFeyO₃-δ cathode: a combination study of first-principles calculation and experiment

Using the first-principles calculation and the electronic conductivity relaxation (ECR) experimental technique, we investigated the adsorption and dissociation behaviors of O2 on Pt-modified La0.625Sr0.375Co0.25Fe0.75O3-δ (LSCF) surface. Toward the O2 reduction, the calculation results show that the perfect LSCF (100) surface is catalytically less active than both the defective (100) surface and the perfect (110) surface. O2 molecule can weakly adsorb on the perfect LSCF (100) surface with a small adsorption energy of about -0.30 eV, but the dissociation energy barrier of the O2 molecule is about 1.33-1.43 eV. Doping of Pt cluster on the LSCF (100) surface can remarkably enhance its catalytic activity. The adsorption energies of O2 molecules become -1.16 and -1.89 eV for the interfacial Feint site and the Ptbri bridge site of Pt4-cluster, respectively. Meanwhile, the dissociation energy barriers are reduced to 0.37 and 0.53 eV, respectively. The migration energy barrier of the dissociated oxygen from the interfacial Pt to the LSCF surface is 0.66 eV, and it is 2.58 eV from the top site of the Pt cluster to the interfacial Pt site, suggesting that it is extremely difficult for oxygen to migrate over the Pt cluster. The Bader charge analysis results further indicate that the charges transferring from Pt cluster to LSCF surface promote the adsorption and dissociation of O2 molecules. Experimentally, a dramatic decrease of the surface oxygen exchange relaxation time was observed on Pt-modified LSCF cathode, with a chemical surface exchange coefficient increased from 6.05 × 10(-5) cm/s of the bare LSCF cathode to 4.04 × 10(-4) cm/s of the Pt-modified LSCF cathode, agreeing very well with our theoretical predictions.

Cooperative effect of Au and Pt inside TiO2 matrix for optical hydrogen detection at room temperature using surface plasmon spectroscopy

Metal (Au, Pt, Au@Pt) and metal oxide (TiO(2)) nanoparticles are synthesized with colloidal techniques and subsequently used as nanocrystal inks for thin films deposition. The optical properties of Au colloids are strongly influenced by both Pt and TiO(2) interfaces: while platinum causes a damping and a blue-shift of the Au Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) peak as a consequence of the metal-metal interaction, the anatase matrix is responsible for the red shift of the plasmon frequency due to the increased refractive index. By a careful tailoring of the nanoparticles synthesis, high quality, scattering-free films composed of an anatase matrix embedding Au, Pt and Au@Pt colloids are deposited at room temperature and stabilized at 200 °C. Room temperature exposure of these films to hydrogen leads to optical changes. In the case of Au, there is a slow blue shift of the surface plasmon band, resulting in a wavelength dependent optical response. Much faster but smaller optical changes occur for titania films containing Pt. When both metals are present, the optical response of the gold is much faster. This is attributed to spillover of hydrogen atoms from platinum to gold. This synergy enables enhanced optical sensing of hydrogen at room temperature by combining the low temperature dissociation of H(2) on Pt with the intensive surface plasmon response of the gold nanocrystals.

Adsorption and reactions of O2 and D2 on small free palladium clusters in a cluster-molecule scattering experiment

The adsorption of oxygen and hydrogen (deuterium) on small neutral palladium clusters was investigated in a cluster beam experiment. The beam passes through two low-pressure reaction cells, and the clusters, with and without adsorbed molecules, are detected using laser ionization and mass spectrometry. Both H(2) and O(2) adsorb efficiently on the palladium clusters with only moderate variations with cluster size in the investigated range, i.e. between 8 and 28 atoms. The co-adsorption of H(2) and O(2) results in the formation of H(2)O, detected as a decrease in the number of adsorbed oxygen atoms with an increasing number of collisions with H(2) molecules. A comparison is done with an earlier similar study of clusters of Pt. Furthermore a comparison is done with what is known for sticking and reactivity of surfaces.

Mechanisms for the Dehydrogenation of Alkanes on Platinum: Insights Gained from the Reactivity of Gaseous Cluster Cations, Ptn+n=1–21

Rates for the dihydrogen elimination of methane, ethane, and propane with cationic platinum clusters, Pt(n) (+) (1<or=n<or=21), were measured under binary collision conditions in a Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer (FTICR). The reaction rate for a given cluster, Ptn +, follows the trend k(CH4)<k (C2H6)<k(C3H8). Methane is particular in the sense that reactivity is highly variable; some clusters (n=1-3, 5-9, 11, 12, 15) are very reactive towards methane, while all other clusters react with low efficiency or not at all. For propane, all clusters react efficiently, while the reactivity of ethane lies in-between that of methane and propane. By necessity, dihydrogen elimination of methane occurs according to a 1,1-elimination mechanism. Ethane dehydrogenation takes place according to both a 1,1- and a 1,2-mechanism. The difference between the 1,1- and 1,2-mechanisms is well displayed in specifically increased rates for those clusters that were inefficient in the reaction with methane, as well as in the observed selectivity for H2, HD, and D2 elimination in the reaction with [D3]-1,1,1-ethane. Some twofold dihydrogen elimination is observed as well. The outcome of reactions with C2H6 in the presence of D(2) demonstrates exchange of all hydrogen atoms in [PtnC2H4]+ with deuterium atoms. A potential energy diagram with a high barrier for the second H2 elimination summarizes these observations. For propane twofold dihydrogen elimination is dominating, and for these reactions a far less regiospecific and more random loss of the hydrogens can be inferred, as was demonstrated by the reactions with [D6]-1,1,1,3,3,3-propane.

Structural, Energetic, and Vibrational Properties of NOx Adsorption on Agn, n = 1−8

The density functional theory is used to explore structural, electronic, and vibrational properties of NO, NO(2), and NO(3) adsorption on small silver clusters, Ag(n), with n =1-8. Generally, NO adsorbs in a top configuration, whereas NO(2) and NO(3) are adsorbed in bridge configuration. NO2 and NO3 introduce pronounced structural relaxations in the clusters. In particular, the transition size from planar to three-dimensional structures is modified. For each cluster size, the adsorption energies follow the trend E(a) (NO) < E(a) (NO(2)) < E(a) (NO(3)). The adsorption energies show a marked odd/even alternation with a stronger bonding to odd clusters. Analysis of the electronic structure reveals an ionic bond mechanism for NO(2) and NO(3). Odd/even effects are also present in vibrational properties of the adsorbed radicals. With respect to the gas phase, the largest shifts are calculated for adsorption on odd clusters. Possible implications of the results for Ag/Al(2)O(3) HC-SCR catalysts are discussed.

A Small Paramagnetic Platinum Cluster in an NaY Zeolite: Characterization and Hydrogen Adsorption and Desorption

A well-defined cluster containing 12 equivalent platinum atoms was prepared by ion exchange of an NaY zeolite, followed by hydrogen reduction. It was characterized by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy, hyperfine sublevel correlation (HYSCORE), and theoretical calculations. Combing the results of the experiments with density functional calculations, the likely structure of this cluster is icosahedral Pt13Hm, possibly with a low positive charge. The adsorbed H/D on the Pt cluster surface can be exchanged reversibly at room temperature. From H/D desorption experiments, an H2 binding energy of 1.36 eV is derived, in reasonable agreement with the calculated value but clearly larger than that for a (111) Pt single-crystal surface, revealing a finite size effect. While the hydrogen-covered cluster should clearly be regarded as a molecule, it is conceivable that the cluster adopts metallic character upon hydrogen desorption. It is likely that up to m=30 H atoms bind to this cluster with 12 surface atoms, which has important implications for the determination of the dispersion of small Pt catalyst particles by hydrogen chemisorption. Calculations as well as experiments give evidence of an interesting magnetic behavior with high-spin states playing a prominent role. There are strong indications that a reservoir of EPR silent but structurally similar clusters exists which can partly be converted to EPR visible species by H/D exchange or by gas adsorption.

Reactions of platinum cluster ions with benzene

In this work, the cation and anion products of the reactions between platinum clusters produced by laser ablation and the benzene molecules seeded in argon have been studied using a high-resolution reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometer (RTOFMS). The dominant cation products are [C(6n)H(6n - k)](+) and [Pt(m)(C(6)H(6))(n)](+) complexes, while the dominant anion products are dehydrogenated species, [C(6)H(5)PtH](-), [PtC(12)H(k)](-) and [Pt(m)C(6)H(4) . . . (C(6)H(6))(n)](-), etc. Some important intermediate structures ([PtC(6)H(6)](+), [Pt(C(6)H(6))(2)](+), [Pt(2)(C(6)H(6))(3)](+), [C(6)H(5)PtH](-), [Pt(2)C(6)H(4)](-), [Pt(3)C(6)H(4)](-) and [Pt(4)C(6)H(4)](-)) have been analyzed using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Different reaction mechanisms are proposed for platinum cluster cations and anions with benzene, respectively.

Gas-Phase Catalysis by Atomic and Cluster Metal Ions: The Ultimate Single-Site Catalysts

Gas-phase experiments with state-of-the-art techniques of mass spectrometry provide detailed insights into numerous elementary processes. The focus of this Review is on elementary reactions of ions that achieve complete catalytic cycles under thermal conditions. The examples chosen cover aspects of catalysis pertinent to areas as diverse as atmospheric chemistry and surface chemistry. We describe how transfer of oxygen atoms, bond activation, and coupling of fragments can be mediated by atomic or cluster metal ions. In some cases truly unexpected analogies of the idealized gas-phase ion catalysis can be drawn with related chemical transformations in solution or the solid state, and so improve our understanding of the intrinsic operation of a practical catalyst at a strictly molecular level.