| 1. |
- Boscolo Bibi, Sara, 1993-, et al.
(author)
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Multi-spectroscopic study of electrochemically-formed oxide-derived gold electrodes
- 2024
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In: Physical Chemistry, Chemical Physics - PCCP. - : Royal Society of Chemistry. - 1463-9076 .- 1463-9084. ; 26:3, s. 2332-2340
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Oxide-derived metals are produced by reducing an oxide precursor. These materials, including gold, have shown improved catalytic performance over many native metals. The origin of this improvement for gold is not yet understood. In this study, operando non-resonant sum frequency generation (SFG) and ex situ high-pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HP-XPS) have been employed to investigate electrochemically-formed oxide-derived gold (OD-Au) from polycrystalline gold surfaces. A range of different oxidizing conditions were used to form OD-Au in acidic aqueous medium (H3PO4, pH = 1). Our electrochemical data after OD-Au is generated suggest that the surface is metallic gold, however SFG signal variations indicate the presence of subsurface gold oxide remnants between the metallic gold surface layer and bulk gold. The HP-XPS results suggest that this subsurface gold oxide could be in the form of Au2O3 or Au(OH)3. Furthermore, the SFG measurements show that with reducing electrochemical treatments the original gold metallic state can be restored, meaning the subsurface gold oxide is released. This work demonstrates that remnants of gold oxide persist beneath the topmost gold layer when the OD-Au is created, potentially facilitating the understanding of the improved catalytic properties of OD-Au.
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| 2. |
- Goodwin, Christopher M., 1989-, et al.
(author)
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Operando Probing of the Surface Chemistry During the Haber-Bosch Process
- 2024
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In: Nature. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 625:7994, s. 282-286
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Haber-Bosch process produces NH3 from N2 and H21,2, typically with Fe and Ru3. HB has been proposed as the most important scientific invention in the 20th century4. The chemical state during reaction has been proposed as oxides5, nitrides2, metallic, or surface nitride6. The proposed rate-limiting step has been the dissociation of N27–9, reaction of adsorbed nitrogen10, or desorption of NH311. Due to the vacuum requirement for surface-sensitive techniques, studies at reaction conditions are limited to theory computations12–14. We determined the surface composition, during NH3 production, at pressures up to 1 bar and temperatures as high as 723 K on flat, stepped Fe, and stepped Ru single crystal surfaces using operando X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy15. We found that all surfaces remain metallic. On Fe only a small amount of adsorbed N remains, yet Ru’s surface is almost adsorbate free. At 523 K, high amines (NHx) coverages appear on the stepped Fe surface. The results show that the rate-limiting step on Ru is always N2 dissociation. Still, on Fe the hydrogenation step involving adsorbed N atoms is essential for the total rate, as predicted by theory13. If the temperature is lowered on Fe, the rate-limiting steps switch and become surface species’ hydrogenation.
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| 3. |
- Holm, Alexander, 1983-, et al.
(author)
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A Water-Promoted Mars-van Krevelen Reaction Dominates Low-Temperature CO Oxidation over Au-Fe2O3 but Not over Au-TiO2
- 2024
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In: ACS Catalysis. - 2155-5435. ; 14:5, s. 3191-3197
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We provide experimental evidence that is inconsistent with often proposed Langmuir−Hinshelwood (LH) mechanistic hypotheses for water-promoted CO oxidation over Au–Fe2O3. Passing CO and H2O, but no O2, over Au-γ-Fe2O3 at 25 °C, we observe significant CO2 production, inconsistent with LH mechanistic hypotheses. Experiments with H218O further show that previous LH mechanistic proposals cannot account for water-promoted CO oxidation over Au-γ-Fe2O3. Guided by density functional theory, we instead postulate a water-promoted Mars–van Krevelen (w-MvK) reaction. Our proposed w-MvK mechanism is consistent both with observed CO2 production in the absence of O2 and with CO oxidation in the presence of H218O and 16O2. In contrast, for Au-TiO2, our data is consistent with previous LH mechanistic hypotheses.
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| 4. |
- Koroidov, Sergey, 1982-
(author)
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Water splitting in natural and artificial photosynthetic systems
- 2014
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Photosynthesis is the unique biological process that converts carbon dioxide into organic compounds, for example sugars, using the energy of sunlight. Thereby solar energy is converted into chemical energy. Nearly all life depends on this reaction, either directly, or indirectly as the ultimate source of their food. Oxygenic photosynthesis occurs in plants, algae and cyanobacteria. This process created the present level of oxygen in the atmosphere, which allowed the formation of higher life, since respiration allows extracting up to 15-times more energy from organic matter than anaerobic fermentation. Oxygenic photosynthesis uses as substrate for the ubiquitous water. The light-induced oxidation of water to molecular oxygen (O2), catalyzed by the Mn4CaO5 cluster associated with the photosystem II (PS II) complex, is thus one of the most important and wide spread chemical processes occurring in the biosphere. Understanding the mechanism of water-oxidation by the Mn4CaO5 cluster is one of today’s great challenges in science. It is believed that one can extract basic principles of catalyst design from the natural system that than can be applied to artificial systems. Such systems can be used in the future for the generation of fuel from sunlight.In this thesis the light-induced production of molecular oxygen and carbon dioxide (CO2) by PSII was observed by membrane-inlet mass spectrometry. By analyzing this observation is shown that CO2 not only is the substrate in photosynthesis for the production of sugars, but that it also regulates the efficiency of the initial steps of the electron transport chain of oxygenic photosynthesis by acting, in form of HCO3-, as acceptor for protons produced during water-splitting. This finding concludes the 50-years old search for the function of CO2/HCO3− in photosynthetic water oxidation.For understanding the mechanism of water oxidation it is crucial to resolve the structures of all oxidation states, including transient once, of the Mn4CaO5 cluster. With this application in mind a new illumination setup was developed and characterized that allowed to bring the Mn4CaO5 cluster of PSII microcrystals into known oxidation states while they flow through a narrow capillary. The optimized illumination conditions were employed at the X-ray free electron laser at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) to obtain simultaneous x-ray diffraction (XRD) and x-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) at room temperature. This two methods probe the overall protein structure and the electronic structure of the Mn4CaO5 cluster, respectively. Data are presented from both the dark state (S1) and the first illuminated state (S2) of PS II. This approach opens new directions for studying structural changes during the catalytic cycle of the Mn4CaO5 cluster, and for resolving the mechanism of O-O bond formation.In two other projects the mechanism of molecular oxygen formation by artificial water oxidation catalysts containing inexpensive and abundant elements were studied. Oxygen evolution catalyzed by calcium manganese and manganese only oxides was studied in 18O-enriched water. It was concluded that molecular oxygen is formed by entirely different pathways depending on what chemical oxidant was used. Only strong non-oxygen donating oxidants were found to support ‘true’ water-oxidation. For cobalt oxides a study was designed to understand the mechanistic details of how the O-O bond forms. The data demonstrate that O-O bond formation occurs by direct coupling between two terminal water-derived ligands. Moreover, by detailed theoretical modelling of the data the number of cobalt atoms per catalytic site was derived.
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