Thesis advisor: Matthias M. Waegele / Studying the adsorption and reaction kinetics of surface-bound chemical species, on different metal catalysts or electrodes, is of paramount importance in the development of inhomogeneous catalytic methodology. Our study of the oxidation of CO on platinum was accomplished by designing a thin layer flow cell in an external reflection configuration. A charge-injection circuit was successfully implemented which decreased the time required to charge the double layer in the electrochemical cell. We were able to obtain a signal via Stark shift spectrum, of the adsorbed CO, using the thin layer cell configuration. Additionally, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was used as a diagnostic tool to assess the effect of electrode geometry, on the voltage response, in the thin layer cell. The coupling of visible light-driven photoexciation with transition metal catalytic plat- forms is emerging as a synthetic strategy to achieve unique reactivity that has previously been inaccessible. One such example is the iridium/nickel-dipyridyl system discovered recently. Characterizing the interactions between the iridium and nickel catalysts, under reaction conditions, is important to develop a better understanding of the system. In order to apply infrared spectroscopic measurement techniques, in-situ, we made modifications to the synthetic scheme by changing the solvent and by utilizing different iridium catalysts for the synthesis of the desired methyl 4-(benzoyloxy)benzoate product. Using our trans- mission infrared setup we effectively demonstrated in-situ product detection of the aryl- ester coupled product. Additionally, after constructing a transient infrared pump-probe setup, we collected preliminary results of the triplet state lifetime of the iridium dye. The surface morphology of copper has been shown to affect the electrochemical reduction of CO2. Using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopies, the reversible formation of nanoscale metal clusters on a copper electrode was revealed at sufficiently cathodic potentials where we observed the appearance of a new band at 2080 cm-1 corresponding to C≡O adsorbed to undercoordinated copper defect sites. The formation of new undercoordinated sites additionally resulted in the surface enhancement of the Raman scattering which amplified the intensity of the other spectral bands. / Thesis (MS) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Chemistry.

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The aim of the study is to evaluate the ability of non-noble metal catalysts to function as the commercially used noble metal catalyst. The exhaust gas that was used in the project is generated from a heater developed by ReformTech AB with diesel as fuel. The compound that was focused on is carbon monoxide that has a concentration of 300-750 ppm. The catalysts that were tested are MnO/CeO2, CuO/CeO2 and a Pt/CeO2 catalyst used to compare the non-noble metal catalyst with. The sensitivity against sulfur poisoning was also analyzed by mixing sulfur into the fuel. Analysis of the exhaust gas was done with a micro-GC and the catalysts were also analyzed with SEM before and after exposure of sulfur.   The manganese catalyst with a loading of 7 wt-% did not show any activity against carbon monoxide oxidation. The copper catalysts contained two different loadings of active material, 7 and 14 wt-% and monoliths with 400 and 600 cpsi were used. Both loadings showed good activity against carbon monoxide oxidation.   The most prominent catalyst was the 14 wt-% CuO/CeO2 catalyst with a 600 cpsi monolith because of an increase in surface area. The SEM analysis showed that sulfur was present on the surface when the heater was using diesel with 300 ppm sulfur. The sulfur caused complete deactivation of the non-noble metal catalysts and a small decrease in activity was shown on the noble metal Pt catalyst.

Ziel dieser Arbeit war, die Rastertunnelmikroskopie, die bereits zur Aufklärung von einfachen Reaktionsmechanismen eingesetzt wurde, für em kompliziertere Reaktionen anzuwenden. Die Oxidation von CO auf Pd(111) und auf einem RuO2-Film auf Ru(0001) wurde untersucht. Strukturelle Analysen ergeben mikroskopische Verteilungen der Adsorbate in den Überstrukturen von O und CO auf Pd(111) und RuO2. Dynamische und quantitative Analysen der Reaktionen liefern die Kinetik und die Mechanismen der Reaktionen direkt auf der mikroskopischen Ebene. O-Atome auf Pd(111) sind bei mittleren Bedeckungsgraden (0.10< theta mathrm O 135 K beweglich. Die Aktivierungsenergie der Diffusion (E * mathrm diff ) beträgt 0.54 pm 0.08 eV, der präexponentielle Faktor der Sprünge Gamma mathrm o beträgt 10 16 pm 3 s -1. Bei niedrigen Bedeckungen (theta mathrm CO sim 0) sind die CO-Moleküle auf Pd(111) schon bei T mathrm sample = 60 K sehr beweglich. Wenn man einen präexponentiellen Faktor von Gamma mathrm o = 10 13 s -1 annimmt, ergibt sich für E * mathrm diff von CO ein Wert von 0.15 eV. Adsorbiert CO auf der (2 times2) -O-Überstruktur bei T mathrm sample > 130 K, kommt es mit steigendem Bedeckungsgrad von CO zu Phasenübergängen, zunächst in eine ( sqrt 3 times Sqrt 3 ) R30 circ -O-Struktur, dann in eine (2 times1)-Struktur. Während der Phasenübergänge nimmt die Mobilität der O-Atome zu, was sich in einer Abnahme der E* mathrm diff um 10 bis 20 % (unter der Annahme von Gamma mathrm o = 10 16 s -1) im Vergleich zu einer CO-freien Oberfläche niederschlägt. Am Ende der Phasenübergänge entstehen aus einer fast völlig ungeordneten (O+CO)-Phase viele kleine (2 times1)-Inseln, die sich zu grösseren Inseln zusammenlegen. Die (2 times1)-Inseln sind bereits bei T mathrm sample = 136 K sehr reaktiv. Die quantitative Analyse der Abreaktion der (2 times1)-Inseln ergibt, dass die Reaktionsrate proportional zur Inselfläche und nicht zur Randlänge ist. Die Reaktionsordnung bezüglich theta mathrm(2 times1) ist sim 1. Unter der Annahme eines Vorfaktors k mathrm o von 10 13 s -1 wurde für diese Reaktion ein E* mathrm reac von 0.41 eV abgeschätzt. Für eine CO-Adsorption auf der (2 times2)-O-Überstruktur bei T mathrm sample < 130 K kommt es nicht zu einem Phasenübergang, sondern CO adsorbiert auf der (2 times2)-O-Struktur. Der RuO2-Film wurde bei Temperaturen zwischen 650 und 900 K auf der Ru(0001)-Probe aufgewachsen. Die Morphologie des Oxidfilms hängt stark von der Temperatur der Probe während des Wachstums Tprep ab. Bei Tprep sim 650 K ist die Morphologie überwiegend kinetisch bestimmt. Mit steigendener Temperatur bis Tprep = 900 K werden thermodynamische Effekte immer wichtiger. Die Dicke der Oxidschicht hängt nicht von Tprep ab und beträgt 7 AA bis 15 AA, was 2 bis 5 (Ru-O)-Monolagen entspricht. Die thermodynamische Stabilität der Morphologie ergibt sich aus Experimenten, in denen die Oxidschicht durch Heizen auf verschiedene Temperaturen partiell verdampft wurde. Der Film dampft nicht lageweise ab, sondern es entstehen Löcher in der ansonsten unverdampften Oxidschicht. Die Löcher haben eine charakteristische Form. Sie bilden Parallelogramme oder Rechtecke mit einer langen Achse in [001]-Richtung. Die Oberflächenenergie gamma 001 der einen Flanke der Löcher ist 2 bis 5 mal grösser als gamma bar110 der anderen Flanke. Beim Verdampfen des Films verbleiben die freigesetzten Ru-Atome des Oxids auf dem Substrat. Sie bilden dort eine komplizierte Morphologie von hexagonalen und runden Inseln. Die mikroskopischen Beobachtungen der chemischen Prozesse auf dem Film bestätigen die auf den makroskopischen Untersuchungen basierenden Modelle. Ein neuer Befund ist, dass die CO-Moleküle bei Raumtemperatur auf den Rulf -Reihen stabil adsorbieren, sobald die Ruzf -Reihen vollständig mit CO bedeckt sind. Der maximale Bedeckungsgrad theta mathrm CO1f ist 0.5, die COlf-Moleküle bilden lokal geordnete (2times1)-, c(2times2)- und (1times1)-Überstrukturen. Allerdings kommt es bei theta mathrm CO1f sim 0.5 zu einer langsamen Desorption. Wenn man ein k mathrm o von 10 16 s -1 annimmt, lässt sich ein E * mathrm des von 1.00 eV abschätzen. Unter der Annahme von Gamma mathrm o und k mathrm o von 10 13 s -1 lassen sich E* mathrm diff -Werte für O und CO zwischen 0.89 und 0.93 eV abschätzen, und für die Reaktion zwischen COlf und Olf ein Wert von E* mathrm reac sim 0.87 eV. Die Reaktionen zwischen Ozf und COlf, zwischen Olf und COzf sowie zwischen Olf und COlf verlaufen überwiegend statistisch. Manchmal wird eine leicht bevorzugte Reaktion quer zu den Rulf - und Ruzf -Reihen beobachtet. Unter steady-state-Bedingungen kann CO bei genügend grossem Partialdruck auf der Oberfläche adsorbieren. Unter steady-state-Bedingungen werden die gleichen COlf-Überstrukturen beobachtet wie in einer CO-Atmosphäre oder bei der Titration mit CO. Bei massiver Dosierung der Oxidoberfläche mit Oz und CO (sim 100 L) werden weisse Flecken beobachtet, die COlf ähnlich sind. Allerdings reagieren diese weder mit Oz noch mit CO, was auf einen anderen chemischen Zustand der RuO2-Oberfläche als den sauberen Zustand hinweist. / Scanning Tunneling Microscopy has already been established as a tool for the investigation of simple reaction mechanisms. The aim of this thesis was to apply this technique to study emmore complicated reactions. The oxidation of CO on Pd(111) and on a RuO2 film grown on Ru(0001) was investigated. Structural analyses of the O, CO and (CO+O) adlayers on Pd(111) and on RuO2 reveal the microscopic distributions of the adsorbates on the surfaces. Dynamic and quantitative analyses of the reactions yield the reaction kinetics and the reaction mechanisms in a direct way at the microscopic level. O atoms on Pd(111) at intermediate coverages (0.10

O presente trabalho estudou comparativamente, do ponto de vista fundamental, a reação de eletro-oxidação de monóxido de carbono (CO) em meio ácido, sobre Pt75Sn25/C, Pt65Ru35/C e Pt/C através da Espectroscopia de Impedância Eletroquímica. Os materiais foram preparados por redução com ácido fórmico e caracterizados fisicamente por EDX e DRX de alta intensidade e eletroquimicamente por voltametria. Previamente aos estudos de Impedância, foram realizados estudos potenciodinâmicos da reação de eletro-oxidação de CO adsorvido (?Stripping de CO?) e a oxidação de CO em uma solução saturada de CO. Para os materiais Pt65Ru35/C e Pt/C, estes estudos mostraram que há um deslocamento de potencial do inicio da oxidação para valores mais positivos quando CO está presente em solução se comparado a oxidação (stripping) de CO, devido a competição de sítios de adsorção entre moléculas de CO e H2O, responsáveis pela reação. Por outro lado, no material bimetálico Pt75Sn25/C a presença de CO em solução não influenciou de maneira significativa o potencial de inicio da oxidação, confirmando a ausência de adsorção competitiva neste material. A curva de polarização em estado estacionário revelou que, dentre os 3 materiais estudados, o material bimetálico Pt75Sn25/C apresentou a maior atividade eletrocatalítica, isto é, maiores densidades de correntes em menores sobrepotenciais. Este comportamento foi, em grande parte, esclarecido através dos experimentos de Espectroscopia de Impedância Eletroquímica. Com a Espectroscopia de Impedância Eletroquímica foi verificada a formação de espécies oxigenadas em Pt/C e em Pt65Ru35/C no intervalo de freqüências estudado, enquanto que em Pt75Sn25/C os diagramas de impedância revelaram um comportamento predominantemente capacitivo, indicando a ausência de reações de transferência de carga devido à oxidação da H2O para formar hidróxidos/óxidos na superfície do material. Também foi demonstrado que os processos relacionados a reação entre COads e espécies oxigenadas superficiais são mais rápidos em Pt75Sn25/C do que em Pt/C e Pt65Ru35/C, como ficou evidente no diagrama de Bode do ângulo de fase em função da freqüência. Mais especificamente, a menor resistência de transferência de carga para a reação em Pt75Sn25/C aparece em freqüências mais altas provavelmente devido à reação ocorrer com espécies oxigenadas já presentes na fase SnO2 presente no material. Por outro lado, os processos de adsorção são mais rápidos devido a menor energia de adsorção de CO sobre Pt, de acordo com os resultados encontrados por cálculos teóricos de DFT. / In this work, kinetic aspects of CO electro-oxidation on Pt/C, Pt75Sn25/C and Pt65Ru35/C prepared by chemical reduction with formic acid were studied by Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS). The bulk composition of the asprepared PtSn/C and PtRu/C bimetallic materials, analyzed by EDX, was 77:23 and 64:36, respectively. Using high intensity XDR measurements the bulk structure and phase determinations could be established. The analysis of the XRD profiles of Pt75Sn25/C revealed partial alloy formation and the presence of a SnO2 phase. For Pt65Ru35/C, no alloy formation was verified. Potentiodynamic oxidation of CO in a CO-saturated solution compared with CO stripping voltammetry pointed out the presence of competitive adsorption between CO and oxygen containing species on the surface of Pt/C and Pt65Ru35/C while for Pt75Sn25/C no competition for surface sites was verified. Impedance measurements were conducted in two different conditions: i) in the absence of CO in solution and ii) in a CO saturated solution. Provided by an equivalent circuit the charge transfer resistance (Rct), was obtained for the studied materials. The mean double layer capacitance (Cdl) was also estimated from circuit parameters and revealed its dependence on the carbon monoxide surface coverage (_CO). Furthermore, the relation between the _CO and the charge transfer resistance for the reaction is discussed. Using EIS it was demonstrated that the Rct for the carbon monoxide electro-oxidation reaction on Pt75Sn25/C is much lower than on Pt/C and Pt65Ru35/C, which was related to the presence of oxygen-containing species already present in the SnO2 phase as well as to the faster adsorption processes on this material compared to Pt/C and Pt65Ru35/C.

The subject of this work is the development of accurate frameworks to describe the electrochemical promotion of catalysis (EPOC) phenomenon. EPOC, also known as non-Faradaic electrochemical modification of catalytic activity (NEMCA), refers to the enhancement of the catalytic performance by application of current or potential in a catalyst/support system. Although this technology is of increasing interest nowadays in the field of modern electrochemistry and exhibits a great industrial potential, there are still just a few commercial applications, partly because the addressed phenomenon is not fully understood and has not been modelled to allow robust system design and control. For this purpose, a systematic multi-dimensional, isothermal, dynamic model is developed to address the EPOC phenomenon using the electrochemical oxidation of CO over Pt/YSZ as an illustrative system. The formulated model is based on partial differential equations (PDEs) accounting for the simulation of the mass and charge transport as well as the electrochemical phenomena taking place at the triple phase boundaries (TPBs, where the gas phase, the catalyst and the support are all in contact) implemented through a commercial finite element method (FEM) software (COMSOL Multiphysics). The constructed model is used in conjunction with experimental data for parameter estimation purposes, and a validated model is obtained. The results demonstrate that the effect in such a system is strongly non-Faradaic, with Faradaic rates 3 orders of magnidute lower than the non-Faradaic ones. The formulated model is extended to describe the various processes taking place in the electrochemically promoted CO combustion system at their characteristic length-scales. The proposed framework couples a macroscopic model simulating charge transport as well as electrochemical phenomena occuring at the TPBs implemented through a FEM-package and an in-house developed efficient implementation of the kinetic Monte Carlo method (kMC) for the simulation of reaction-diffusion micro-processes on the catalyst. Dynamic communication of macro- and micro-scopic models at the TPBs results in the construction of an integrated multi-scale system. Comparison between the multi-scale framework and a fully macroscopic model is carried out for several sets of operating conditions and differences between the two models steady-state outputs are presented and discussed. A detailed FEM/kMC model, regardless of accurately simulating the several phenomena at their appropriate length-scales, might not be suitable for large system simulations due to the high computational demand. To address this limitation, a computationally efficient coarse-graining methodology, the so-called gap-tooth method, is implemented. In this scheme the catalytic surface is efficiently represented by a small subset of the spatial domain (tooth) separated by gaps. While kMC simulations within each individual tooth (micro-lattice) are used to predict the corresponding evolution of the micro-processes, intelligent interpolation rules are employed to allow for the exchange (diffusion) of species between consecutive micro-lattices. A validated gap-tooth/kMC scheme is obtained and it is exploited for FEM/gap-tooth/kMC electrochemically promoted CO oxidation simulations achieving high computational savings.

Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) is by far the predominant technology deployed for radiocarbon tracer studies. Applications are widespread from archaeology to biological, environmental, and pharmaceutical sciences. In spite of its excellent performance, AMS is expensive and complicated to operate. Consequently, alternative detection techniques for 14C are of great interest, with the vision of a compact, user-friendly, and inexpensive analytical method. Here, we report on the use of intracavity optogalvanic spectroscopy (ICOGS) for measurements of the 14C/12C ratio. This new detection technique was developed by Murnick et al. (2008). In the infrared (IR) region, CO2 molecules have strong absorption coefficients. The IR-absorption lines are narrow in line width and shifted for different carbon isotopes. These properties can potentially be exploited to detect 14CO2, 13CO2, or 12CO2 molecules unambiguously. In ICOGS, the sample is in the form of CO2 gas, eliminating the graphitization step that h is required in most AMS labs. The status of the ICOGS setup in Uppsala is presented. The system is operational but not yet fully developed. Data are presented for initial results that illustrate the dependence of the optogalvanic signal on various parameters, such as background and plasma-induced changes in the sample gas composition.

The physical and catalytic properties of silica supported platinum or rhodium model catalysts are studied under both ultra high vacuum (UHV) and elevated pressure reaction conditions (>1torr). Platinum or rhodium nanoparticles are vapor deposited onto a SiO2/Mo(112) surface and characterized using various surface analytical methods. CO chemisorption is utilized as a surface probe to estimate the concentration of various sites on the nanoparticles through thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) and infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy (IRAS) along with microscopy techniques to estimate particle size. The results are compared with hard sphere models of face centered cubic metals described as truncated cubo-octahedron. Results demonstrate the excellent agreement between chemisorption and hard sphere models in estimating the concentration of undercoordinated atoms on the nanoparticle surface. Surfaces are then subjected to high pressure reaction conditions to test the efficacy of utilizing the rate of a chemical reaction to obtain structural information about the surface. The surfaces are translated in-situ to a high pressure reaction cell where both structure insensitive and sensitive reactions are performed. Structure insensitive reactions (e.g. CO oxidation) allow a method to calculate the total active area on a per atom basis for silica supported platinum and rhodium model catalysts under reaction conditions. While structure sensitive reactions allow an estimate of the types of reaction sites, such as step sites (≤C7) under reaction conditions (e.g. n-heptane dehydrocyclization). High pressure structure sensitive reactions (e.g. ethylene hydroformylation) are also shown to drastically alter the morphology of the surface by dispersing nanoparticles leading to inhibition of catalytic pathways. Moreover, the relationships between high index single crystals, oxide supported nanoparticles, and high surface area technical catalysts are established. Overall, the results demonstrate the utility of model catalysts in understanding the structure-activity relationships in heterogeneous catalytic reactions and the usefulness of high pressure reactions as an analytical probe of surface morphology.

The investigation of CO oxidation with supported noble metal catalysts to develop a fundamental understanding of the nature of the active sites, adsorbate-surface interactions, surface reaction pathways and the role of promoters is of prime importance for development of highly active and selective catalyst formulations for low temperature oxidation of carbon monoxide. Low temperature CO oxidation catalysts find applications in monitoring and elimination of CO in chemical process exhaust gases, in on-board control and diagnostics devices, automobile exhaust gas treatment systems for the development of zero-emission vehicles and, in closed-cycle CO2 lasers for remote sensing. Moreover, the investigation of the interaction of CO with noble metals and noble metals catalyzed oxidation of CO have important outcomes for upstream fuel processing systems and for the development of more CO tolerant anode materials for hydrogen fuel cell. Palladized tin dioxide is a well-known and highly active catalyst for CO oxidation which possesses the potential to satisfy the need for CO oxidation catalysts in the abovementioned areas however, research on this material is concentrated mostly around empirical studies which focus solely on CO sensing applications. This current research is undertaken to investigate both the mechanism of CO oxidation with Pd/SnO2 at the molecular scale and the possibility of promoting the CO activity of this catalyst by the application alkali-metal modifiers. Alkali-metal modified PdO/SnO2 catalysts were characterized by XPS, XRD and SEM and, tested with regard to their oxidation/reduction and CO oxidation behavior by in-situ dynamic methods such as, temperature-programmed reaction/reduction/desorption and impulse techniques. Modification of PdO/SnO2 by alkali-metals, namely Li, Na and K, resulted in catalyst formulations with different surface characteristics and reduction/oxidation behaviors that lead to superior activity in low temperature CO oxidation and selectivity towards CO in the presence of hydrogen. Studies have shown that these catalysts are potential candidates for CO oxidation catalysts in a wide range of areas.