Ceren Aydin

Imaging Isolated Gold Atom Catalytic Sites in Zeolite NaY

Gold, the most stable metallic element, attracted wide attention as a catalyst only after the discovery that gold nanoclusters on oxide supports are highly active and selective for reactions including numerous oxidation,[1–8] hydrogenation,[9–11] hydroamination,[12, 13] ring expansion,[14, 15] and coupling[16, 17] reactions. The catalytic properties of supported gold strongly dependent on the gold–support interactions and the size of the active species, which must be small—typically clusters with diameters of the order of 1 nm.[18–20] Frequent discoveries of new gold-catalyzed reactions are leading the science; understanding has been slow to emerge.[21] Major challenges are to identify the catalytically active species and to characterize gold–support interactions.

Supported Molecular Iridium Catalysts: Resolving Effects of Metal Nuclearity and Supports as Ligands

The performance of a supported catalyst is influenced by the size and structure of the metal species, the ligands bonded to the metal, and the support. Resolution of these effects has been lacking because of the lack of investigations of catalysts with uniform and systematically varied catalytic sites. We now demonstrate that the performance for ethene hydrogenation of isostructural iridium species on supports with contrasting properties as ligands (electron-donating MgO and electron-withdrawing HY zeolite) can be elucidated on the basis of molecular concepts. Spectra of the working catalysts show that the catalytic reaction rate is determined by the dissociation of H(2) when the iridium, either as mono- or tetra-nuclear species, is supported on MgO and is not when the support is the zeolite. The neighboring iridium sites in clusters are crucial for activation of both H(2) and C(2)H(4) when the support is MgO but not when it is the zeolite, because the electron-withdrawing properties of the zeolite support enable even single site-isolated Ir atoms to bond to both C(2)H(4) and H(2) and facilitate the catalysis.

Tracking Iridium Atoms with Electron Microscopy: First Steps of Metal Nanocluster Formation in One-Dimensional Zeolite Channels

Using aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), we imaged iridium atoms in isolated iridium complexes in the one-dimensional nonintersecting 14-ring channels of zeolite SSZ-53. STEM allows tracking of the movement of atoms in the channels, demonstrating the interaction of iridium with the zeolite framework (channel confinement) and providing a direct visualization of the initial steps of metal nanocluster formation. The results demonstrate how STEM can be used to help design improved catalysts by identifying the catalytic sites and observing how they change in reactive atmospheres.

Selective molecular recognition by nanoscale environments in a supported iridium cluster catalyst

The active sites of enzymes are contained within nanoscale environments that exhibit exquisite levels of specificity to particular molecules. The development of such nanoscale environments on synthetic surfaces, which would be capable of discriminating between molecules that would nominally bind in a similar way to the surface, could be of use in nanosensing, selective catalysis and gas separation. However, mimicking such subtle behaviour, even crudely, with a synthetic system remains a significant challenge. Here, we show that the reactive sites on the surface of a tetrairidium cluster can be controlled by using three calixarene-phosphine ligands to create a selective nanoscale environment at the metal surface. Each ligand is 1.4 nm in length and envelopes the cluster core in a manner that discriminates between the reactivities of the basal-plane and apical iridium atoms. CO ligands are initially present on the clusters and can be selectively removed from the basal-plane sites by thermal dissociation and from the apical sites by reactive decarbonylation with the bulky reactant trimethylamine-N-oxide. Both steps lead to the creation of metal sites that can bind CO molecules, but only the reactive decarbonylation step creates vacancies that are also able to bond to ethylene, and catalyse its hydrogenation.

Hydrogen Activation and Metal Hydride Formation Trigger Cluster Formation from Supported Iridium Complexes

The formation of iridium clusters from supported mononuclear iridium complexes in H(2) at 300 K and 1 bar was investigated by spectroscopy and atomic-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy. The first steps of cluster formation from zeolite-supported Ir(C(2)H(4))(2) complexes are triggered by the activation of H(2) and the formation of iridium hydride, accompanied by the breaking of iridium-support bonds. This reactivity can be controlled by the choice of ligands on the iridium, which include the support.

Oxide- and zeolite-supported isostructural Ir(C2H4)2 complexes: molecular-level observations of electronic effects of supports as ligands.

Zeolite Hβ- and γ-Al(2)O(3)-supported mononuclear iridium complexes were synthesized by the reaction of Ir(C(2)H(4))(2)(acac) (acac is acetylacetonate) with each of the supports. The characterization of the surface species by extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and infrared (IR) spectroscopies demonstrated the removal of acac ligands during chemisorption, leading to the formation of essentially isostructural Ir(C(2)H(4))(2) complexes anchored to each support by two Ir-O(support) bonds. Atomic-resolution aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) images confirm the spectra, showing only isolated Ir atoms on the supports with no evidence of iridium clusters. These samples, together with previously reported Ir(C(2)H(4))(2) complexes on zeolite HY, zeolite HSSZ-53, and MgO supports, constitute a family of isostructural supported iridium complexes. Treatment with CO led to the replacement of the ethylene ligands on iridium with CO ligands, and the ν(CO) frequencies of these complexes and white line intensities in the X-ray absorption spectra at the Ir L(III) edge show that the electron density on iridium increases in the following order on these supports: zeolite HY < zeolite Hβ < zeolite HSSZ-53 ≪ γ-Al(2)O(3) < MgO. The IR spectra of the iridium carbonyl complexes treated in flowing C(2)H(4) show that the CO ligands were replaced by C(2)H(4), with the average number of C(2)H(4) groups per Ir atom increasing as the amount of iridium was increasingly electron-deficient. In contrast to the typical supported catalysts incorporating metal clusters or particles that are highly nonuniform, the samples reported here, incorporating uniform isostructural iridium complexes, provide unprecedented opportunities for a molecular-level understanding of how supports affect the electronic properties, reactivities, and catalytic properties of supported metal species.

Atomically Resolved Site-Isolated Catalyst on MgO: Mononuclear Osmium Dicarbonyls formed from Os3(CO)12.

Supported triosmium clusters, formed from Os3(CO)12 on MgO, were treated in helium at 548 K for 2 h, causing fragmentation of the cluster frame and the formation of mononuclear osmium dicarbonyls. The cluster breakup and the resultant fragmented species were characterized by infrared and X-ray absorption spectroscopies, and the fragmented species were imaged by scanning transmission electron microscopy. The spectra identify the surface osmium complexes as Os(CO)2{Osupport}n (n = 3 or 4) (where the braces denote support surface atoms). The images show site-isolated Os atoms in mononuclear osmium species on MgO. The intensity analysis on the images of the MgO(110) face showed that the Os atoms were located atop Mg columns. This information led to a model of the Os(CO)2 on MgO(110), with the distances approximated as those determined by EXAFS spectroscopy, which are an average over the whole MgO surface; the results imply that these complexes were located at Mg vacancies.

Three‐Dimensional Structural Analysis of MgO‐Supported Osmium Clusters by Electron Microscopy with Single‐Atom Sensitivity

Size, shape, nuclearity: Aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy was used to determine the 3D structures of MgO-supported Os3, Os4, Os5, and Os10 clusters, which have structures nearly matching those of osmium carbonyl compounds with known crystal structures. The samples are among the best-defined supported catalysts.

Quantitative Z‐Contrast Imaging of Supported Metal Complexes and Clusters—A Gateway to Understanding Catalysis on the Atomic Scale

Z‐contrast imaging in an aberration‐corrected scanning transmission electron microscope can be used to observe and quantify the sizes, shapes, and compositions of the metal frames in supported mono‐, bi‐, and multimetallic metal clusters and can even detect the metal atoms in single‐metal‐atom complexes, as well as providing direct structural information characterizing the metal–support interface. Herein, we assess the major experimental challenges associated with obtaining atomic resolution Z‐contrast images of the materials that are highly beam‐sensitive, that is, the clusters readily migrate and sinter on support surfaces, and the support itself can drastically change in structure if the experiment is not properly controlled. Calibrated and quantified Z‐contrast images are used in conjunction with ex situ analytical measurements and larger‐scale characterization methods such as extended X‐ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy to generate an atomic‐scale understanding of supported catalysts and their function. Examples of the application of these methods include the characterization of a wide range of sizes and compositions of supported clusters, primarily those incorporating Ir, Os, and Au, on highly crystalline supports (zeolites and MgO).

Zeolite-supported bimetallic catalyst: controlling selectivity of rhodium complexes by nearby iridium complexes

Rh(C2H4)2 complexes supported on HY zeolite selectively catalyze ethylene dimerization in the presence of H2, but iridium complexes anchored near the rhodium alter the selectivity by spilling over hydrogen that limits the adsorption of ethylene on Al–OH sites that act in concert with the rhodium sites, thereby triggering the rhodium complexes to operate as hydrogenation rather than dimerization catalysts.