An Exploration of Catalytic Chemistry on Au/Ni(111)

This project explored the catalytic oxidation chemistry that can be effected on a Au/Ni(111) surface alloy. A Au/Ni(111) surface alloy is a Ni(111) surface on which less than 60% of the Ni atoms are replaced at random positions by Au atoms. The alloy is produced by vapor deposition of a small amount of Au onto Ni single crystals. The Au atoms do not result in an epitaxial Au overlayer or in the condensation of the Au into droplets. Instead, Au atoms displace and then replace Ni atoms on a Ni(111) surface, even though Au is immiscible in bulk Ni. The two dimensional structure of the clean Ni surface is preserved. This alloy is found to stabilize an adsorbed peroxo-like O2 species that is shown to be the critical reactant in the low temperature catalytic oxidation of CO and that is suspected to be the critical reactant in other oxidation reactions. This investigation revealed a new, practically important catalyst for CO oxidation that has since been patented