Interactions of oxygen and ethylenewith submonolayer Ag filmssupported on Ni(111)

Journal Article · Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2011 · Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1039/c1cp20357f· OSTI ID:1078212

Rettew, Robert ^[1]; Meyer, Axel ^[2]; Senanayake, Sanjaya D ^[2]; Chen, Tsung-Liang ^[2]; Petersburg, Cole ^[1]; Flege, J. Ingo ^[3]; Falta, Jens ^[3]; Alamgir, Faisal ^[2]

---

1. Georgia Institute of Technology
2. ORNL
3. University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany

We investigate the oxidation of, and the reaction of ethylene with, Ni(111) with and without sub-monolayer Ag adlayers as a function of temperature. The addition of Ag to Ni(111) is shown to enhance the activity towards the ethylene epoxidation reaction, and increase the temperature at which ethylene oxide is stable on the surface. We present a systematic study of the formation of chemisorbed oxygen on the Ag Ni(111) surfaces and correlate the presence and absence of O1 and O2 surface species with the reactivity towards ethylene. By characterizing the samples with low-energy electron microscopy (LEEM) in combination with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), we have identified specific growth of silver on step-edge sites and successfully increased the temperature at which the produced ethylene oxide remains stable, a trait which is desirable for catalysis.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1078212
• Journal Information: Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, Vol. 13, Issue 23; ISSN 1463--9076
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English