An atomistic control of chemical bonds formation and cleavage holds the key to making molecular transformations more energy efficient and product selective. However, inherent scaling relations among binding strengths of adsorbates on various catalytic materials often give rise to volcano-shaped relationships between the catalytic activity and the affinity of critical intermediates to the surface. The optimal catalysts should bind the reactants 'just right', i.e., neither too strong nor too weak, which is the Sabatier's principle. It is extremely useful for searching promising catalysts, but also imposes serious constraints on design flexibility. Therefore, how to circumvent scaling constraints is crucial for advancing catalytic science. It has been shown that hot electrons can selectively activate the chemical bonds that are not responsive to phonon excitation, thus providing a rational approach beyond scaling limitation. Another emerging yet effective way to break the scaling constraint is single atom catalysis. Strong interactions of supported single atoms with supports dramatically affect the electronic structure of active sites, which reroutes mechanistic pathways of surface reactions. In my PhD research, we use CO oxidation reaction on metal-based active sites as a benchmark system to tailor mechanistic pathways through those two strategies 1) ultra-fast laser induced nonadiabatic surface chemistry and 2) oxide-supported single metal catalysis, with the aim to go beyond the Sabatier activity volcano in metal catalysis. / Doctor of Philosophy / Catalysis is the process of increasing the chemical reaction rate by lowering down the activation barrier. There are three different types of catalysis including enzyme, homogeneous, and heterogeneous catalysis. Heterogeneous catalytic reactions involve a sequence of elementary steps, e.g., adsorption of reactants onto the solid surface, transformation of adsorbed species, and desorption of the products. However, the existing scaling relations among binding energies of reaction intermediates on various catalytic materials lead to volcano-shaped relationships, which show the reaction activity versus the binding energy of critical intermediates. The optimal catalysts should bind the reaction intermediates neither too strong nor too weak. This is the Sabatier's principle, which provides useful guidance for searching promising catalysts. But it also imposes the constraint on the attainable catalytic performance. How to break the constraint to further improve the catalytic activity is an emerging problem. The recent studies have shown that the hot surface electrons on the metal surfaces induced by the ultra-fast laser can selectively activate the chemical bonds, thus providing a rational approach beyond scaling constraints. Another way to break the scaling constraint is single atom catalysis. The metal oxides are frequently used as the support to stabilize the single metal atoms. The strong interaction between the single metal atoms and the support affects the electronic structure of the catalysts. Thereby catalytic reactions on the single metal atoms catalyst are very different from that on metal surfaces. In my PhD research, we use CO oxidation reaction as a benchmark system, to tailor reaction pathways through those two strategies on 1) Ru(0001) under ultra-fast laser pulse and 2) Ir single metal atoms supported on spinel oxides, to go beyond Sabatier activity volcano in metal catalysis.

Single atom catalysis is a relatively new form of heterogeneous catalysis. While single atom catalysts probably are already used in a lot of catalysis, their identification and characterization has only recently become common place. As we now have the ability to synthesis relatively pure systems consisting of single atoms and then to characterize them, there are many interesting questions that we can answer about them. In this work we will use a combination of several different types of characterizations such as kinetic measurements, diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy, extended x-ray absorption fine structure, and many more to better understand how single atoms react and how we can attempt to make such systems more active. The work here is primarily based around Ir single atoms and/or small clusters on three different supports MgAl2O4, TiO2, and CeO2. In each of these cases we attempt to understand how the Ir and the support catalytically oxidize CO into CO2 through a kinetic, and if possible, mechanistic study. Through these mechanistic studies we attempt to isolate the most important parameters of the catalyst so that we can create a more active catalyst. There are, of course, many different ways that we can use this information. The most obvious is by changing the catalyst support, but as the breadth of the research presented here will show, we can also optimize catalytic activity through using mixtures of single atoms with larger species as well as by changing the nuclearity of the said species, i.e., we can increase activity by controlling the size of the catalysts. However, in order to be able to control the activity in this way, we must 1) know how the size affects the activity and 2) know how the reaction conditions affect the size, i.e., we must establish the catalyst size is stable during reaction. Each of these topics are discussed to some extent here. Additionally, we also discuss how different sites of single atoms on the same support might differ and we show that we can create such different sites. On the whole, we have studied single atom and small cluster catalysis in many different directions based on systems of Ir for CO oxidation. This work is also performed with the intent to compare these Ir systems to similar systems of Rh, Pt, Pd, etc. However here we will only discuss the Ir pieces. / Doctor of Philosophy / In this work we study various properties of Ir single atom and subnanometer cluster catalysts for CO oxidation in hopes that we might be able to design a better catalyst with this information. A catalyst is a substance that facilitates a chemical reaction but is not consumed. For this work we will be considering the reaction of carbon monoxide (CO), which is a common pollutant and highly toxic gas, with O2 to create CO2, a much less dangerous pollutant. Our catalyst thus makes this reaction happen much faster and thus allows us to remove CO from exhaust streams, such as car exhaust, better. A single atom catalyst is a catalyst that is primarily a single atom on a metal oxide support. A subnanometer cluster catalyst is thus a catalyst that is smaller than one nanometer (0.00000004 inches). These are typically 10-20 atoms grouped together. This size is interesting as it is bigger than a single atom, but it is still much smaller than a classical catalyst nanoparticle and is thus controlled or dominated by different properties. In this work we will look at how different characteristics of the singe atom and cluster catalysts affect how good of a catalyst it is. The first is how the amount of single atoms and nanoparticles affect the overall activity of the catalyst. This study will tell us what the best mixture of single atoms is. The second study is how small clusters of Ir/MgAl2O4 react differently than single atoms and large nanoparticles. This tells us what the best size for Ir/MgAl2O4 catalysts are. The third study tells us how Ir/TiO2 single atom catalysts react which is useful when compared to Ir/MgAl2O4 and Ir/CeO2 (Chapter 7). The combination of single atom studies then allows us to make predictions on which supports (apart from Ir/MgAl2O4, Ir/TiO2, and Ir/CeO2) will be the best for CO oxidation. The fourth study compares different single atoms (all of Ir/TiO2) and shows how they behave differently, this is another possibility to increase the effectiveness of the catalyst. The fifth study discusses how different conditions affect the size of the Ir/TiO2 catalysts. Specifically, whether they exist as single atoms, subnanometer clusters, or larger clusters. All of these different studies represent another way that we can potentially increase catalytic activity and hopefully will allow our group, or another group to create even more active catalysts.

Title: Role of surface defects in ceria-based catalysis Author: Andrii Tovt Department: Department of Surface and Plasma Science Supervisor of the doctoral thesis: doc. Mgr. Josef Mysliveček Ph.D., Department of Surface and Plasma Science Abstract: This work concentrates on the analysis of fundamental physicochemical properties of Pt-CeOx, single-atom Pt1 /CeOx, and inverse CeOx/Cu(111) catalysts. Preparation method for stabilized atomically-dispersed Pt2+ ions on ceria was developed and adsorption sites for Pt ions were thoroughly studied using advanced surface science techniques supported by theoretical methods. The mechanism of Pt2+ stabilization on ceria steps was revealed and the step capacity towards Pt2+ ions was estimated. Also, the preparation method for well-ordered cerium oxide ultrathin films with different stoichiometry and ordering of surface oxygen vacancies was developed, and the Ceria/Cu(111) interaction was investigated. Key words: heterogeneous catalysis, model systems, single-atom catalysis, platinum ions, cerium oxide.

This thesis deals with the combined ultra-high vacuum (UHV) and electrochemical (EC) studies of selected iron oxide surfaces, namely Fe3O4(001) and -Fe2O3(012). The state-of- the-art knowledge regarding these surfaces is briefly reviewed, and importance of understanding these materials in the electrochemical environment is discussed. The design of the transfer system between UHV and EC environment is presented; individual features of the system are thoroughly discussed and the system is used for testing the stability of the Fe3O4(001) (2×2)R45° surface reconstruction in ambient conditions. The experimental results presented in this thesis show that the Fe3O4(001) (2×2)R45° reconstruction, utilized as an adatom array for single atom catalysis studies, survives both exposure to air and to liquid water, if the exposure is achieved in well-controlled fashion. Further, this thesis presents the first-ever atomic scale scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) study of the -Fe2O3(012) surface, which is important for photoelectrochemical water splitting. STM images of two surface reconstructions of the -Fe2O3(012) surface known to date are presented. A bulk terminated model of the (1×1) reconstruction is confirmed and a novel surface structure model for the (2×1) reconstructed surface is proposed. Adsorption studies of H2O and O2 on the (2×1) reconstructed surface are documented by timelapse STM.

[ES] En esta Tesis se ha estudiado en profundidad la reacción de semi-hidrogenación de alquinos catalizada por materiales de paladio. Más especificamente, esta Tesis empieza estudiando un sistema simple para la semi-hidrogenación de alquinos: clústeres de paladio en disolución formados a partir de la reducción in situ de sales de paladio, en el Capítulo 3. Este concepto, se usará posteriormente para sintetizar un catalizador soportado y soluble en el Capítulo 4. Estos clústeres catalizan de forma muy eficiente la semi-hidrogenación de alquinos internos. Entre otros alquinos internos estudiados en el Capítulo 4, los 1,4-alquinodioles se investigaron en más profundidad en el Capítulo 5, donde se muestra su habilidad para desactivar la ruptura del hidrógeno molecular sobre catalizadores de paladio. Además, se estudiará su desimetrización diastereoisomérica durante la reacción semi-hidrogenación. La semi-hidrogenación de alquinos terminales, a pesar de ser típicamente más sencilla, no procede de forma eficiente en los sistemas catalíticos de los capítulos anteriores. Es por ello que en el Capítulo 6 se pone énfasis en estos alquinos terminales y, mediante la interacción entre fosfinas y catalizadores de paladio sobre carbono, se consigue una hidrogenación selectiva de estos sustratos sobre catalizadores clásicamente no selectivos. Finalmente, el último Capítulo 7 se dedica a la semi-hidrogenación del acetileno, el alquino con mayor presencia industrial a nivel global con diferencia. Los elevados requerimientos de rendimiento y el alto volumen de producción del proceso de semi-hidrogenación de acetileno se satisfacen en este caso mediante el uso de un MOF con dímeros de Pd-Au. / [CA] En aquesta Tesi s'ha estudiat en profunditat la reacció de semi-hidrogenació d'alquins catalitzada per materials de pal·ladi. Més especificament, aquesta Tesi comença estudiant un dels sistemes més simples per a la semi-hidrogenació d'alquins: clústers de pal·ladi en dissolució formats a partir de la reducció "in situ" de sals de pal·ladi en el Capítol 3. Aquest concepte s'empra posteriorment per a sintetitzar un catalitzador suportat i soluble en el Capítol 4. Aquests clústers catalitzen de forma molt eficient la semi-hidrogenació dels alquins interns. Entre d'altres alquins interns estudiats en el Capítol 4, els 1,4-alquindiols s'investiguen en més profunditat en el Capítol 5, on es mostra la seva habilitat per a desactivar la ruptura de l'hidrogen molecular sobre catalitzadors de pal·ladi, així com la desimetrizació diastereoisomérica que sofreixen durant la reacció de semi-hidrogenació. Malgrat ser típicament més senzilla, la semi-hidrogenació d'alquins terminals no procedeix de manera eficient en els sistemes catalítics dels capítols anteriors. És per això que en el Capítol 6 es posa èmfasi en aquests alquins terminals i, mitjançant la interacció entre fosfines i catalitzadors de pal·ladi sobre carboni, s'aconsegueix una hidrogenació selectiva d'aquests substrats sobre catalitzadors clàssicament no selectius. Finalment, l'últim Capítol 7 es dedica a la semi-hidrogenació de l'acetilè, un dels alquins terminals amb major presència industrial a nivell global. Els elevats requisits de rendiment i l'elevat volum de producció d'aquest procés de semi-hidrogenació d'acetilè se satisfan, en aquest cas, mitjançant l'ús d'un MOF amb dímers de Pd-Au. / [EN] In this Thesis, the semi-hydrogenation reaction of alkynes catalyzed by palladium materials has been studied in depth. More specifically, this Thesis starts by studying a very simple system for the semi-hydrogenation of alkynes: palladium clusters in solution formed from the in situ reduction of palladium salts, in Chapter 3. This concept will be subsequently used to synthesize a supported and soluble catalyst in Chapter 4. These clusters catalyze very efficiently the semi-hydrogenation of internal alkynes. Among other internal alkynes studied in Chapter 4, 1,4-alkynodiols are further investigated in Chapter 5, where their ability to deactivate molecular hydrogen cleavage over palladium catalysts is shown, as well as the diastereoisomeric desymmetrization that they undergo during the semi-hydrogenation reaction. Despite being typically simpler, the semi-hydrogenation of terminal alkynes does not proceed efficiently in the catalytic systems of the previous chapters. Hence, in Chapter 6, emphasis is placed on these terminal alkynes and, by means of the interaction between phosphines and palladium-on-carbon catalysts, a selective hydrogenation of these substrates over classically non-selective catalysts is achieved. Finally, the last Chapter 7 is devoted to the semi-hydrogenation of acetylene, the alkyne with the largest global industrial presence by far. The high yield and production volume requirements of the acetylene semi-hydrogenation process are met in this case by using a MOF with Pd-Au dimers. / Ballesteros Soberanas, J. (2023). Semi-hidrogenación de alquinos con nuevos catalizadores de paladio [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/194631