Molecules, Solids and Reactivity – MOST
SEMINAR
FRIDAY MAY 13, 2011
11 a.m. room SUD 03
Professor Masatake Haruta
Department of Applied Chemistry
Graduate School of Urban Environmental Sciences
Tokyo Metropolitan University
"Novel Catalysis by Supported Gold Clusters"
Gold clusters smaller than 2 nm in diameter being composed of less than
300 atoms exhibit some fantastic catalytic properties which have not yet
been obtained by gold nanoparticles. Gold clusters can catalyze the gas
phase epoxidation of propene with molecular oxygen alone in the
copresence of water. A surface science approach to H2-D2 exchange
reaction over gold clusters deposited on a single crystal of rutile TiO2
(110) has revealed that the rate of HD formation increased in inverse
proportion to the second power of the diameter of gold, indicating that
hydrogen molecule could be dissociated at the perimeter interfaces. This
finding suggests that tiny gold clusters, in combination with the proper
support selection, may have great potential in the selective
hydrogenations in terms of both activity and selectivity.