In this insightful and well-rounded review, Gianfranco Pacchioni summarises the latest knowledge regarding the metal/oxide interface. Such knowledge has become crucial in the elucidation of reaction mechanisms and catalytic properties of metal-oxide catalysts.
Thanks to increasingly sophisticated techniques, it has become known that the original chemical and structural properties of a metal nanoparticle deposit can be significantly altered upon interaction with an oxide support. Particularly for catalysts containing metal nanoparticles smaller then about 1 nm, the phenomenon is particularly significant and somewhat complex.
For a long time, it was assumed that the oxide component of heterogeneous catalysts provided an “inert” support. Pacchioni takes us through the experimental and theoretical evidence that has shown that the support is in fact not as “innocent” as first thought, and focuses on the nature of the chemical bonds formed between metal atoms and clusters and oxide surfaces.
Read this PCCP Perspective in full today:
Electronic interactions and charge transfers of metal atoms and clusters on oxide surfaces
Gianfranco Pacchioni
DOI: 10.1039/C2CP43731G
