Trent L. Silbaugh

Insights into catalysis by gold nanoparticles and their support effects through surface science studies of model catalysts

One important aid in understanding catalysis by gold nanoparticles would be to understand the strength with which they bond to different support materials and the strength with which they bond adsorbed intermediates, and how these strengths depend on nanoparticle size. We present here new measurements of adsorption energies by single crystal adsorption calorimetry, and new analyses of other recent measurements by this technique in our lab, which imply that: (1) small nanoparticles of metals like Au bind much more strongly to supports like titania and iron oxide which are generally observed to be effective in making Au nanoparticles active in catalysis than to supports like MgO which are considered less effective, (2) the thermodynamic stability of adsorbed intermediates for catalytic reactions can either increase strongly or decrease strongly with decreasing metal nanoparticle size below 8 nm, depending on the system, and (3) the reaction to insert O2 into the Au-H bond of adsorbed H on the Au(111) surface to make Au-OOH (O2,g + H(ad) --> OOH(ad)) is exothermic by -80 kJ mol(-1). This adsorbed hydroperoxy species is thought to be a key intermediate in selective oxidation reactions over Au nanoparticle catalysts, but its production by this reaction may also provide a route for O2 activation in less demanding reactions (like CO oxidation) as well. Its stability would be even higher on Au nanoparticles below 3 nm in diameter, but even there it is too unstable to be formed by combining adsorbed OH with an O adatom (OH(ad) + O(ad) --> OOH(ad)), which is estimated to be endothermic by 175 kJ mol(-1). The implications of the stability of metal nanoparticles versus particle size on different supports and of the stability and potential reactions of OOH(ad) in Au catalysis will be discussed.

Energetics of adsorbed methanol and methoxy on Pt(111) by microcalorimetry.

The heat of adsorption and sticking probability of methanol were measured on clean Pt(111) at 100, 150, and 210 K and on oxygen-precovered Pt(111) at 150 K by single-crystal adsorption calorimetry (SCAC). On clean Pt(111) at 100 K, the heat of methanol adsorption was found to be 60.5 ± 0.8 kJ/mol in the limit of low coverage, resulting in a standard enthalpy of formation (ΔH(f)°) of CH(3)OH(ad) of -263 ± 0.8 kJ/mol. The results at 150 and 210 K on clean Pt(111) were indistinguishable from the energetics measured at 100 K in the same coverage range. Calorimetry of methanol on oxygen-precovered Pt(111) at 150 K yielded the energetics of adsorbed methoxy, giving ΔH(f)°[CH(3)O(ad)] = -170 ± 10 kJ/mol and a CH(3)O-Pt(111) bond enthalpy of 187 ± 11 kJ/mol. By use of these enthalpies, the dissociation of adsorbed methanol on Pt(111) to form methoxy and a hydrogen adatom is found to be uphill by +57 kJ/mol. At coverages below 0.2 monolayer (ML), the sticking probability for methanol on both surfaces at or below 150 K was >0.95. At 210 K, ∼80% of the methanol beam pulse transiently adsorbs to clean Pt(111) with a surface residence time of 238 ms and heat of adsorption of 61.2 ± 2.0 kJ/mol, giving a prefactor for methanol desorption of 4 × 10(15±0.5) s(-1). These measured energetics for methoxy and methanol were compared to density functional theory (DFT) calculations from previous literature, showing DFT to routinely underestimate the bond energy of both adsorbed methanol and methoxy by 15-52 kJ/mol.

Energetics of Adsorbed CH3 on Pt(111) by Calorimetry

The enthalpy and sticking probability for the dissociative adsorption of methyl iodide were measured on Pt(111) at 320 K and at low coverages (up to 0.04 ML, where 1 ML is equal to one adsorbate molecule for every surface Pt atom) using single crystal adsorption calorimetry (SCAC). At this temperature and in this coverage range, methyl iodide produces adsorbed methyl (CH(3,ad)) plus an iodine adatom (I(ad)). Combining the heat of this reaction with reported energetics for Iad gives the standard heat of formation of adsorbed methyl, ΔH(f)(0)(CH3,ad), to be −53 kJ/mol and a Pt(111)–CH3 bond energy of 197 kJ/mol. (The error bar of ±20 kJ/mol for both values is limited by the reported heat of formation of I(ad).) This is the first direct measurement of these values for any alkyl fragment on any surface.

Energetics of formic acid conversion to adsorbed formates on Pt(111) by transient calorimetry.

Carboxylates adsorbed on solid surfaces are important in many technological applications, ranging from heterogeneous catalysis and surface organo-functionalization to medical implants. We report here the first experimentally determined enthalpy of formation of any surface bound carboxylate on any surface, formate on Pt(111). This was accomplished by studying the dissociative adsorption of formic acid on oxygen-presaturated (O-sat) Pt(111) to make adsorbed monodentate and bidentate formates using single-crystal adsorption calorimetry. The integral heat of molecular adsorption of formic acid on clean Pt(111) at 100 K is 62.5 kJ/mol at 0.25 monolayer (ML). On O-sat Pt(111), the integral heat of the dissociative adsorption of formic acid to make monodentate formate (HCOOmon,ad) plus the water-hydroxyl complex ((H2O-OH)ad) was found to be 76 kJ/mol at 3/8 ML and 100-150 K. Similarly, its integral heat of dissociative adsorption to make bidentate formate (HCOObi,ad) plus (H2O-OH)ad was 106 kJ/mol at 3/8 ML and 150 K. These heats give the standard enthalpies of formation of adsorbed monodentate and bidentate formate on Pt(111) to be -354 ± 5 and -384 ± 5 kJ/mol, respectively, and their net bond enthalpies to the Pt(111) surface to be 224 ± 13 and 254 ± 13 kJ/mol, respectively. Coverage-dependent enthalpies of formation were used to estimate the enthalpy of the elementary reaction HCOOHad → HCOObi,ad + Had to be -4 kJ/mol at zero coverage and +24 kJ/mol at 3/8 ML.

Bond Energies of Molecular Fragments to Metal Surfaces Track Their Bond Energies to H Atoms

The bond energy of molecular fragments to metal surfaces is of great fundamental importance, especially for understanding catalytic reactivity. Thus, the energies of adsorbed intermediates are routinely calculated to understand and even predict the activity of catalytic materials. By correlating our recent calorimetry measurements of the adiabatic bond dissociation enthalpies of three oxygen-bound molecular fragments [-OH, -OCH3, and -O(O)CH] to the Pt(111) surface, it is found that these RO-Pt(111) bond enthalpies vary linearly with the RO-H bond enthalpies in the corresponding gas-phase molecules (water, methanol, and formic acid), with a slope of 1.00. This parallels the known trend for organometallic complexes, thus highlighting the local character of chemical bonding, even on extended metal surfaces. This allows prediction of bond enthalpies for many other molecular fragments to metal surfaces, and the energetics of important catalytic reactions.

Single-crystal adsorption calorimetry on well-defined surfaces: from single crystals to supported nanoparticles.

Single-crystal adsorption calorimetry (SCAC) measures the energetics of gas-surface interactions in a direct way and can be applied to a broad range of well-defined model surfaces. In this Personal Account we review some of the recent advances in understanding the interaction of gaseous molecules with single-crystal surfaces and well-defined supported metallic nanoparticles by this powerful technique. SCAC was applied on single-crystal surfaces to determine formation enthalpies of adsorbed molecular fragments typically formed during heterogeneously catalyzed reactions involving hydrocarbons. On supported metal nanoparticles, the binding energies of gaseous species were determined by SCAC as a function of the particle size. The reported data provide valuable information for ongoing research in many fields of heterogeneous catalysis and materials science. In addition, direct calorimetric measurements serve as benchmarks for the improvement of computational approaches to understanding surface chemistry.