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Nanocatalysis by the tip of a scanning tunneling micrscope operating inside a reactor cell

Journal Article · · Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States)
; ;  [1]
  1. Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (United States)
The platinum-rhodium tip of a scanning tunneling microscope that operates inside of an atmospheric-pressure chemical reactor cell has been used to locally rehydrogenate carbonaceous fragments deposited on the (111) surface of platinum. The carbon fragments were produced by partial dehydrogenation of propylene. The reactant gas environment inside the cell consisted of pure H[sub 2] or a 1:9 mixture of CH[sub 3]CHCH[sub 2] and H[sub 2] at 300 kelvin. The platinum-rhodium tip acted as a catalyst after activation by short voltage pulses. In this active state, the clusters in the area scanned by the tip were reacted away with very high spatial resolution.
OSTI ID:
6799009
Journal Information:
Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States), Journal Name: Science (Washington, D.C.); (United States) Vol. 265:5177; ISSN SCIEAS; ISSN 0036-8075
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English