PNNL

Abstract

We report studies where gas-phase Au atoms are deposited onto a multilayer film of molecular oxygen and demonstrate that this technique produces oxidized gold clusters. This method of producing oxidized gold clusters is an extension of our earlier work synthesizing MgO nanostructures using a technique termed Reactive Layer Assisted Deposition (RLAD). Emp[loying a combination of temperature programmed desorpotion (TPD) and molecular beam techniques we show that the oxidized gold clusters readily react with CO to produce CO2. At present, the structure and size distribution of these clusters are unknown. Nevertheless, these oxidized gold clusters readily catalyze the formation of CO2 at temperatures as low as 35K. Furthermore, above 120K the reaction runs to completion during exposure to gas-phase CO with initial reaction yields as high as 50