Mechanistic insight into carbon-carbon bond formation on cobalt under simulated Fischer-Tropsch synthesis conditions.

Facile C-C bond formation is essential to the formation of long hydrocarbon chains in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. Various chain growth mechanisms have been proposed previously, but spectroscopic identification of surface intermediates involved in C-C bond formation is scarce. We here show that the high CO coverage typical of Fischer-Tropsch synthesis affects the reaction pathways of CH adsorbates on a Co(0001) model catalyst and promote C-C bond formation.

Nanofabricated Catalyst Particles for the Investigation of Catalytic Carbon Oxidation by Oxygen Spillover.

The catalytic oxidation of carbon by molecular oxygen was studied using C/Pt, Pt/C, Pt/AlO/C, Pt/CeO/C, AlO/C, and CeO/C model samples prepared by hole-mask colloidal lithography. By this technique, the degree of contact between platinum and carbon was controlled with high precision. The oxidation of carbon was monitored using atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy.

Fabrication of poly- and single-crystalline platinum nanostructures using hole-mask colloidal lithography, electrodeposition and annealing.

Colloidal lithography (CL) is a generic name for a collection of nanolithographic techniques, based on using colloidal nanoparticles as pattern (mask)-defining entities to produce various nanostructures. A key step in CL processes is the deposition, usually by evaporation or sputtering, of the material that makes up the final nanostructures. We have for the first time combined a special version of CL, called hole-mask colloidal lithography (HCL), with electrodeposition.

Enhanced nanoplasmonic optical sensors with reduced substrate effect.

We present a straightforward method to double the refractive index sensitivity of surface-supported nanoplasmonic optical sensors by lifting the metal nanoparticles above the substrate by a dielectric nanopillar. The role of the pillar is to substantially decrease the spatial overlap between the substrate and the enhanced fields generated at plasmon resonance. Data presented for nanodisks and nanoellipsoids supported by pillars of varying heights are found to be in excellent agreement with electrodynamics simulations.