Effect of Oxygen Adsorption on the Chiral Pt{531} Surface

CO and O2 Interaction with Kinked Pt Surfaces

We investigate the chemical interaction of carbon monoxide (CO) and oxygen (O2) with kink atoms on steps of platinum crystal surfaces using a specially designed Pt curved sample. We aim at describing the fundamental stages of the CO oxidation reaction, i.e., CO-covered/poisoned stage and O-covered/active stage, at the poorly known kinked Pt facets by probing CO uptake/saturation and O2 saturation, respectively. Based on the systematic analysis that the curved surface allows, and using high-resolution X-ray photoemission, a diversity of terrace and step/kink species are straightforwardly identified and accurately quantified, defining a smooth structural and chemical variation across different crystal planes. In the CO-saturated case, we observe a preferential adsorption at step edges, where the CO coverage reaches a CO molecule per step Pt atom, significantly higher than their close-packed analogous steps with straight terrace termination. For the O-saturated surface, a significantly higher O coverage is observed in kinked planes compared to the Pt(111) surface. While the strong adsorption of CO at the kinked edges points toward a higher ignition temperature of the CO oxidation at kinks as compared to terraces, the large O coverage at steps may lead to an increased reactivity of kinked surfaces during the active stage of the CO oxidation.

Ultrasmall Cluster Model for Investigating Single Atom Catalysis: Dehydrogenation of 1-Propanamine by Size-Selected Pt1Zr2O7 Clusters Supported on HOPG

The selective dehydrogenation of hydrocarbons and their functionalized derivatives is a promising pathway in the realization of endothermic fuel systems for powering important technologies such as hypersonic aircraft. The recent surge in interest in single atom catalysts (SACs) over the past decade offers the opportunity to achieve the ultimate levels of selectivity through the subnanoscale design tailoring of novel catalysts. Experimental techniques capable of investigating the fundamental nature of the active sites of novel SACs in well-controlled model studies offer the chance to reveal promising insights. We report here an approach to accomplish this through the soft landing of mass-selected, ultrasmall metal oxide cluster ions, in which a single noble metal atom bound to a metal oxide moiety serves as a model SAC active site. This method allows the preparation of model catalysts in which monodispersed neutral SAC model active sites are decorated across an inert electrically conductive support at submonolayer surface coverage, in this case, Pt₁Zr₂O₇ clusters supported on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG). The results contained herein show the characterization of the Pt₁Zr₂O₇/HOPG model catalyst by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), along with an investigation of its reactivity toward the functionalized hydrocarbon molecule, 1-propanamine. Through temperature-programmed desorption/reaction (TPD/R) experiments it was shown that Pt₁Zr₂O₇/HOPG decomposes 1-propanamine exclusively into propionitrile and H₂, which desorb at 425 and 550 K, respectively. Conversely, clusters without the single platinum atom, that is, Zr₂O₇/HOPG, exhibited no reactivity toward 1-propanamine. Hence, the single platinum atom in Pt₁Zr₂O₇/HOPG was found to play a critical role in the observed reactivity.

Identification of the surface species in electrochemical promotion: ethylene oxidation over a Pt/YSZ catalyst

The electrochemical promotion of the C₂H₄ + O₂ total oxidation reaction over a Pt catalyst, interfaced to yttrium stabilized zirconia (YSZ), has been studied at 0.25 mbar and T = 650 K using near ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (NAP-XPS) as an in situ method. The electrochemical promoter effect is linked to the presence of a several layers thick graphitic overlayer that forms on the Pt surface in the presence of C₂H₄. Our NAP-XPS investigation reveals that electrochemical pumping of the Pt/YSZ catalyst, using a positive potential, leads to the spillover of oxygen surface species from the YSZ support onto the surface of the Pt electrode. Based on the XP spectra, the spillover species on Pt is identical to oxygen chemisorbed from the gas-phase.

High-Pressure Scanning Tunneling Microscopy

This is a Review of recent studies on surface structures of crystalline materials in the presence of gases in the mTorr to atmospheric pressure range, which brings surface science into a brand new direction. Surface structure is not only a property of the material but also depends on the environment surrounding it. This Review emphasizes that high/ambient pressure goes hand-in-hand with ambient temperature, because weakly interacting species can be densely covering surfaces at room temperature only when in equilibrium with a sufficiently high gas pressure. At the same time, ambient temperatures help overcome activation barriers that impede diffusion and reactions. Even species with weak binding energy can have residence lifetimes on the surface that allow them to trigger reconstructions of the atomic structure. The consequences of this are far from trivial because under ambient conditions the structure of the surface dynamically adapts to its environment and as a result completely new structures are often formed. This new era of surface science emerged and spread rapidly after the retooling of characterization techniques that happened in the last two decades. This Review is focused on the new surface structures enabled particularly by one of the new tools: high-pressure scanning tunneling microscopy. We will cover several important surfaces that have been intensely scrutinized, including transition metals, oxides, and alloys.

Observing the oxidation of platinum

Despite its importance in oxidation catalysis, the active phase of Pt remains uncertain, even for the Pt(111) single-crystal surface. Here, using a ReactorSTM, the catalytically relevant structures are identified as two surface oxides, different from bulk α-PtO2, previously observed. They are constructed from expanded oxide rows with a lattice constant close to that of α-PtO2, either assembling into spoked wheels, 1-5 bar O2, or closely packed in parallel lines, above 2.2 bar. Both are only ordered at elevated temperatures (400-500 K). The triangular oxide can also form on the square lattice of Pt(100). Under NO and CO oxidation conditions, similar features are observed. Furthermore, both oxides are unstable outside the O2 atmosphere, indicating the presence of active O atoms, crucial for oxidation catalysts.Improving platinum as an oxidation catalyst requires understanding its structure under catalytic conditions. Here, the authors discover that catalytically important surface oxides form only when Pt is exposed to high pressure and temperature, highlighting the need to study catalysts in realistic environments.

Formation of nanometer-sized surface platinum oxide clusters on a stepped Pt(557) single crystal surface induced by oxygen: a high-pressure STM and ambient-pressure XPS study

We studied the oxygen-induced restructuring process on a stepped Pt(557) single crystal surface using high-pressure scanning tunneling microscopy (HP-STM) and ambient-pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (AP-XPS) at O(2) pressures up to 1 Torr. HP-STM has revealed that nanometer-sized clusters are created on Pt(557) at 1 Torr of O(2) and at room temperature. These clusters are identified as surface Pt oxide by AP-XPS. The appearance of clusters is preceded by the formation of 1D chain structures at the step edges. By using a Pt(111) surface as a reference, it was found that the step sites are the nucleation centers for the formation of surface oxide clusters. These surface oxide clusters disappear and the stepped structure is restored on Pt(557) after evacuating O(2) to 10(-8) Torr. Changes in the surface oxide concentration in response to variations in the O(2) gas pressure are repeatable for several cycles. Our results that small clusters are initiated at step sites at high pressures demonstrate the importance of performing in situ characterization of stepped Pt catalysts under reaction conditions.

Effect of particle size on the oxidizability of platinum clusters

The catalytic properties of transition metal particles often depend crucially on their chemical environment, but so far, little is known about how the effects of the environment vary with particle size, especially for clusters consisting of only a few atoms. To gain insight into this topic, we have studied the oxygen affinity of free Pt(x) clusters as a function of cluster size (x = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 10) using density functional theory (DFT) calculations (GGA-PW91). DFT-based Nosé-Hoover molecular dynamics has been used to explore the configuration space of the Pt(x)O(x) and Pt(x)O(2x) clusters, leading to the discovery of several novel Pt-oxide structures. The formation of small Pt-oxide clusters by oxidizing the corresponding Pt(x) clusters is found to be significantly more exothermic than the formation of bulk Pt-oxides from Pt metal. The exothermicity generally increases as cluster size decreases but exhibits strongly nonlinear dependence on the cluster size. The nanoclusters are also structurally distinct from the bulk oxides and prefer one- and two-dimensional chain and ringlike shapes. These findings help elucidate the oxidation behavior of Pt nanoclusters and lay the foundation for understanding the reactivity of Pt nanoclusters in oxidizing chemical environments.

The Structure of the Chiral Pt{531} Surface: A Combined LEED and DFT Study

The structure of the chiral kinked Pt531 surface has been determined by low-energy electron diffraction intensity-versus-energy (LEED-IV) analysis and density functional theory (DFT). Large contractions and expansions of the vertical interlayer distances with respect to the bulk-terminated surface geometry were found for the first six layers (LEED: d12 = 0.44 A, d23 = 0.69 A, d34 = 0.49 A, d45 = 0.95 A, d56 = 0.56 A; DFT: d12 = 0.51 A, d23 = 0.55 A, d34 = 0.74 A, d45 = 0.78 A, d56 = 0.63 A; dbulk = 0.66 A). Energy-dependent cancellations of LEED spots over unusually large energy ranges, up to 100 eV, can be explained by surface roughness and reproduced by applying a model involving 0.25 ML of vacancies and adatoms in the scattering calculations. The agreement between the results from LEED and DFT is not as good as in other cases, which could be due to this roughness of the real surface.