Temperature-Dependent Evolution of the Oxidation States of Cobalt and Platinum in Co1–xPtx Clusters under H2 and CO + H2 Atmospheres

Abstract

Co1–xPtx clusters of 2.9-nm size with a range of atomically precise Pt/Co atomic ratios (x = 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1) were synthesized using the mass-selected low-energy cluster beam deposition (LECBD) technique and soft-landed onto an amorphous alumina thin film prepared by atomic layer deposition (ALD). Utilizing ex situ X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS), the oxidation state of the as-made clusters supported on Al2O3 was determined after both a 1-h-long exposure to air and aging for several weeks while exposed to air. Next, the aged cluster samples were characterized by grazing-incidence X-ray absorption spectroscopy (GIXAS) and then pretreated with diluted hydrogen and further exposed to the mixture of diluted CO and H2 up to 225 °C at atmospheric pressure, and the temperature-dependent evolutions of the particle size/shape and the oxidation states of the individual metal components within the clusters were monitored using in situ grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering and X-ray absorption s...