A periodic DFT study of the activation of O2 by Au nanoparticles on α-Fe2O3.

Oxidation chemistry with supported Au nanoparticles as catalysts is an area of intense research. Even so there is still much discussion as to the nature of Au species generated on the complex surfaces of these catalysts and the types of oxygen species that are present. Recent experimental work has highlighted Au bi-layers with dimensions of 0.

CO bond cleavage on supported nano-gold during low temperature oxidation.

The oxidation of CO by Au/Fe(2)O(3) and Au/ZnO catalysts is compared in the very early stages of the reaction using a temporal analysis of products (TAP) reactor. For Au/Fe(2)O(3) pre-dosing the catalyst with (18)O labelled water gives an unexpected evolution order for the labelled CO(2) product with the C(18)O(2) emerging first, whereas no temporal differentiation is found for Au/ZnO. High pressure XPS experiments are then used to show that CO bond cleavage does occur for model catalysts consisting of Au particles deposited on iron oxide films but not when deposited on ZnO films.

Theory and simulation in heterogeneous gold catalysis.

This critical review covers the application of quantum chemistry to the burgeoning area of the heterogeneous oxidation by Au. We focus on the most established reaction, the oxidation of CO at low temperature. The review begins with an overview of the methods available comparing the treatment of the electron-electron interaction and relativistic effects.