Low coverages of catalytically active metals deposited onto less active metal surfaces can form single atom alloys (SAAs), which often display unique catalytic properties. Such alloys are particularly attractive for selective hydrogenation reactions. It is therefore of interest to probe the surface structure and chemistry of such alloys in the presence of gas phase reactants. We have used polarization dependent reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy (PD-RAIRS) to monitor the in-situ hydrogenation of acetylene to ethylene over a Pd/Cu(111) SAA surface. The coverage and morphology of the deposited Pd is characterized with Auger spectroscopy (AES), temperature programmed desorption (TPD) of H2 and CO, and PD-RAIRS of CO. After exposing clean Cu(111) and Cu(111) with various Pd coverages to 10 L CO at 100 K, the RAIR spectra show that the surface is largely unchanged by the presence of less than 0.5 ML of Pd. In the presence of 1×10-2 Torr of CO at 300 K, significant CO coverages are only achieved when Pd is present on the surface. The Pd coverage determined from the areas of the CO peaks in the PD-RAIR spectra is approximately equal to the Pd coverage calculated from peak-to-peak ratios in the Auger spectra. Surface species and gas phase products of C2H2 hydrogenation are monitored between 180 and 500 K on clean Cu(111) and Pd/Cu(111). With a total pressure of 1 Torr and a C2H2:H2 ratio of 1:100, annealing a SAA-Pd/Cu(111) surface to 360 K results in complete conversion of all gas phase C2H2 to gas phase ethylene (C2H4), without producing any gas phase ethane (C2H6). The results demonstrate the utility of PD-RAIRS for monitoring the selective hydrogenation of acetylene to ethylene.

Surface structure and chemistry of a Pd-Cu(111) single-atom alloy from polarization dependent infrared spectroscopy

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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