Section Days abstract book 2010.indd - RUB Research School ...

NSE_21
INTERFACIAL Cu /ZnO CONTACT BY SELECTIVE
PHOTODEPOSITION OF COPPER ONTO THE
SURFACE OF SMALL ZnO NANOPARTICLES IN NON
AQUEOUS COLLOIDAL SOLUTION.
Mahmoud A. Sliem, Todor Hikov, Zi-An Li, Marina Spasova, Michael Farle, Diedrich A.
Schmidt, Martina Havenith-Newen and Roland A. Fischer
Institut of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Department of Inorganic Chemistry II
Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany
email: ahmoud.ashour@rub.de
The industrial methanol production from CO, CO2 and H2 over binary Cu/ZnO and ternary
Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 solid state catalysts 1 has been the subject of a large number of studies aiming
to unravel the details of the underlying mechanism 2 as a prototype of the so-called strong
metal support interaction (SMSI) in heterogeneous catalysis which depends on the Cu/ZnO
interface. 3 Since Tauster and Fung first reported that the chemisorption capacity of H2 and CO
decreased significantly for supported metal catalysts in the SMSI condition, there has been
continuing discussion as to whether the phenomenon was caused by electronic or by
geometric/morphological effects. 4 Hereby we present our new results on the efficient surface
decoration of these ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) to obtain not aggregated, Hexadecylamine
(HAD) surfactant stabilized and soluble very small Cu/ZnO NPs with varied content of the Cu
component. The photocatalytic property of the ZnO NPs was used for efficient and selective
photo-assisted decomposition of the Cu precursor [Cu{OCH(CH3)CH2N(CH3)2}2] at the ZnO
surface. The focus of the work described below is the substantiation of the anticipated
interfacial contact of Cu and ZnO by the combination of spectroscopic techniques (UV-Vis,
photoluminescence and RAMAN spectroscopy). 5
References:
[1] Cornils B et al., Catalysis from A to Z, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2003.
[2] Kurtz M et al., Angew. Chem., Int. Ed., 2005, 44, 2790.
[3] Waugh K. C., Catal. Today, 1992, 15, 51.
[4] Tauster J S et al., J. Am.Chem. Soc., 1978, 100, 170.
[5] Sliem M A et al., Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2010, 12, 9858.