Atomistic and electronic structural analysis of the catalyst mechanism of metal nanoparticles in gases

当金以纳米颗粒的形式负载在特定的金属氧化物上时，即使在室温以下也可以作为CO氧化的催化剂。结合原子分辨环境透射电子显微镜、催化剂化学和从头算，对反应条件下金纳米粒子的形貌和原子结构、CO的吸附位和O2的活化位进行了原子和电子分析.此外，我们成功地可视化了在反应条件下吸附在金属纳米颗粒中的气体分子。

Gold acts as catalyst for CO oxidation even below room temperature when it is supported on specific metal oxides in the form of nanoparticles. Having combined atomic resolution environmental transmission electron microscopy, catalyst chemistry and ab-initio computation, we performed the atomistic and electronic analyses on the morphology and the atomistic structure of gold nanoparticles, the adsorption sites of CO and the activation sites of O2at the reaction conditions. Furthermore, we succeeded in visualizing gas molecules that were adsorbed in metal nanoparticles at the reaction conditions.