Abstract

The oxidation of CO by Au/Fe(2)O(3) and Au/ZnO catalysts is compared in the very early stages of the reaction using a temporal analysis of products (TAP) reactor. For Au/Fe(2)O(3) pre-dosing the catalyst with (18)O labelled water gives an unexpected evolution order for the labelled CO(2) product with the C(18)O(2) emerging first, whereas no temporal differentiation is found for Au/ZnO. High pressure XPS experiments are then used to show that CO bond cleavage does occur for model catalysts consisting of Au particles deposited on iron oxide films but not when deposited on ZnO films. DFT calculations, show that this observation requires carbon monoxide to dissociate in such a way that cleavage of the CO bond occurs along with dynamically co-adsorbed oxygen so that the overall process of Au oxidation and CO dissociation is energetically favourable. Our results show that for Au/Fe(2)O(3) there is a pathway for CO oxidation that involves atomic C and O surface species which operates along side the bicarbonate mechanism that is widely discussed in the literature. However, this minor pathway is absent for Au/ZnO.

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.