Gold as a low-temperature oxidation catalyst: factors controlling activity and selectivity

Reducibility Studies of Ceria, Ce0.85Zr0.15O2 (CZ) and Au/CZ Catalysts after Alkali Ion Doping: Impact on Activity in Oxidation of NO and CO

The aim of these studies was to perform thorough research on the influence of alkali metal ions (Li, Na, K and Cs) on the properties of nanogold catalysts supported on ceria–zirconia. The addition of alkali metal ions onto CeO2 further affected the reducibility, which was not noted for the Zr-doped support (Ce0.85Zr0.15O2). Despite the substantial impact of alkali metal ions on the reducibility of ceria, the activity in CO oxidation did not change much. In contrast, they do not have a large effect on the reducibility of Au/CZ but suppressed the activity of this system in CO oxidation. The results show that for CO oxidation, the negative effect of potassium ions is greater than that of sodium, which corresponds to the shift in the Tmax of the reduction peak towards higher temperatures. The negative effect of Li+ and Cs+ spans 50% CO conversion. The negative effect was visible for CO oxidation in both the model stream and the complex stream, which also contained hydrocarbons and NO. In the case of NO oxidation to NO2, two temperature regimes were observed for Au + 0.3 at% K/CZ, namely in the temperature range below 350 °C; the effect of potassium ions was beneficial for NO oxidation, whereas at higher temperatures, the undoped gold catalyst produced more NO2.

Wolkenstein’s Model of Size Effects in CO Oxidation by Gold Nanoparticles

The Wolkenstein’s theory of catalysis and the d-band theory of formation chemical bonds between transition metal catalysts and adsorbates were used to develop the approach applied to the kinetics of CO oxidation by gold nanoparticles. In the model, within the framework of the mechanism of the reaction going through dissociative adsorption of oxygen molecules and reaction with gas-phase CO molecules, weak and strong chemisorption states of intermediates (O, CO2) were taken into account in the kinetic equations by introducing reversible electronic steps corresponding to electron transfers between the intermediates and the catalyst. As a result, we obtain the expression for the reaction rate, which exhibits a volcano-shape dependence upon the size of the gold nanoparticles at the conditions when the intermediates fractions are not small compared to the empty active sites of the catalyst. It is supposed that the approach can be also applied to the Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism.

Bi doped CeO2 oxide supported gold nanoparticle catalysts for the aerobic oxidation of alcohols

Gold nanoparticles supported on Bi–CeO₂ with four different bismuth loadings (2 to 8 mol%) were prepared to determine the role of oxide vacancies in doped ceria in the benzyl alcohol oxidation reaction.

Direct observation of interfacial Au atoms on TiO₂ in three dimensions

Interfacial atoms, which result from interactions between the metal nanoparticles and support, have a large impact on the physical and chemical properties of nanoparticles. However, they are difficult to observe; the lack of knowledge has been a major obstacle toward unraveling their role in chemical transformations. Here we report conclusive evidence of interfacial Au atoms formed on the rutile (TiO2) (110) surfaces by activation using high-temperature (∼500 °C) annealing in air. Three-dimensional imaging was performed using depth-sectioning enabled by aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy. Results show that the interface between Au nanocrystals and TiO2 (110) surfaces consists of a single atomic layer with Au atoms embedded inside Ti-O. The number of interfacial Au atoms is estimated from ∼1-8 in an interfacial atomic column. Direct impact of interfacial Au atoms is observed on an enhanced Au-TiO2 interaction and the reduction of surface TiO2; both are critical to Au catalysis.

Magic-number gold nanoclusters with diameters from 1 to 3.5 nm: relative stability and catalytic activity for CO oxidation

Relative stability of geometric magic-number gold nanoclusters with high point-group symmetry ((Ih), D(5h), O(h)) and size up to 3.5 nm, as well as structures obtained by global optimization using an empirical potential, is investigated using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Among high-symmetry nanoclusters, our calculations suggest that from Au(147) to Au(923), the stability follows the order Ih > D(5h) > Oh. However, at the largest size of Au(923), the computed cohesive energy differences among high-symmetry I(h), D(5h) and O(h) isomers are less than 4 meV/atom (at PBE level of theory), suggesting the larger high-symmetry clusters are similar in stability. This conclusion supports a recent experimental demonstration of controlling morphologies of high-symmetry Au(923) clusters ( Plant, S. R.; Cao, L.; Palmer, R. E. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 7559). Moreover, at and beyond the size of Au(549), the face-centered cubic-(FCC)-based structure appears to be slightly more stable than the Ih structure with comparable size, consistent with experimental observations. Also, for the Au clusters with the size below or near Au(561), reconstructed icosahedral and decahedral clusters with lower symmetry are slightly more stable than the corresponding high-symmetry isomers. Catalytic activities of both high-symmetry and reconstructed I(h)-Au(147) and both Ih-Au(309) clusters are examined. CO adsorption on Au(309) exhibits less sensitivity on the edge and vertex sites compared to Au(147), whereas the CO/O2 coadsorption is still energetically favorable on both gold nanoclusters. Computed activation barriers for CO oxidation are typically around 0.2 eV, suggesting that the gold nanoclusters of ∼ 2 nm in size are highly effective catalysts for CO oxidation.

Gold-Based Catalysts

The discovery of the catalytic power of gold, always regarded as inert, dates back to the early 1990s. The keystone is the nanometric scale: only when bulk gold was found to be dramatically enhanced when downsized to nanometric particles did its extraordinary catalytic activity definitely come out and it still continues to show more of this peculiarity. This represented a breakthrough in chemistry, especially in organic synthesis, allowing catalyzed selective oxidations of various substrates to be carried out to give important chemicals under green conditions. Gold, alone or alloyed with a second metal, has turned out to be particularly effective in the selective oxidation of different alcohols, which can be tuned to their carbonylic and carboxylic derivatives. In this chapter, an overview of the aerobic oxidation of alcohols carried out with supported gold-based catalysts in the liquid phase is presented, with a particular focus on substrates of interest such as glycerol and allyl alcohol. Some vapor-phase processes worthy of mention are also included, plus a section introducing the main methods of preparation of gold-based catalysts and their characterization.

Synthesis of Catalysts and Its Application for Low-Temperature CO Oxidation

A series of Au/-TiO2 with various Co/Ti ratios prepared. /TiO2 was prepared by incipient wetness impregnation with aqueous solution of cobalt nitrate. Au catalysts were prepared by deposition-precipitation (DP) method at pH 7 and 338 K. The catalysts were characterized by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, temperature programming reduction, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The reaction was carried out in a fixed bed reactor with a feed containing 1% CO in air at weight hourly space velocities of 120,000 mL/h g and 180,000 mL/h g. High gold dispersion and narrow particle size distribution were obtained by DP method. The addition of into Au/TiO2 enhanced the activity of CO oxidation significantly. Au/5%  -TiO2 had the highest catalyst among all the catalysts. was mainly in the form of nanosize Co3O4 which could stabilize the Au nanoparticles. donated partial electrons to Au. The interactions among Au, , and TiO2 account for the high catalytic activity for CO oxidation.

Iron and cobalt oxide and metallic nanoparticles prepared from ferritin

Metallic Fe and Co and Fe- and Co-based oxide nanoparticles were prepared by a novel method utilizing the biologically relevant protein ferritin. In particular, iron and cobalt oxyhydroxide nanoparticles were assembled within horse spleen and Listeria innocua derived ferritin, respectively, in the aqueous phase. Ferritin containing either Fe or Co oxide was transferred and dried on a SiO2 support where the protein shell was removed during exposure to a highly oxidizing environment. It was also shown that the metal oxide particles could be reduced to the respective metal by heating in hydrogen. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was used to characterize the composition of the particles and atomic force microscopy was used to characterize the size of the nanoparticles. Depending on the Fe or Co loading and/or type of ferritin used, metallic and oxide nanoparticles could be produced within a range of 20-60 A.