title: Oxygen vacancy promoting catalytic dehydration of formic acid on TiO2(110) by in situ scanning tunneling microscopic observation.
abstract: The catalytic dehydration reaction processes of formic acid on a TiO2(110) surface at 350 K have been studied to visualize reaction intermediates and their dynamic behaviors by scanning tunneling microscopy. Three types of configurations of adsorbed formates on the surface were identified by their shapes and positions in STM images. Successive STM observations revealed transformations among the three configurations, i.e., bridge formate on a 5-fold coordinated Ti4+ row, bridge formate on an oxygen vacancy site with an oxygen atom of formate and on a 5-fold coordinated Ti4+ ion and with the other formate oxygen atom, and a monodentate formate on an oxygen vacancy site with an oxygen atom of formate. The decomposition of the monodentate formate to carbon monoxide and hydroxyl was also imaged, which is a rate-determining step in the catalytic dehydration of formic acid. Combined with first-principle DFT calculations, the overall reaction processes of the catalytic dehydration of formic acid on the surface have been elucidated. Oxygen vacancies on the surface that can be produced by dehydration of two hydroxyls in situ under the catalytic reaction conditions are essential for the reaction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aizawa
authors.forename: Yoshitada
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Morikawa
authors.forename: Yoshimichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Namai
authors.forename: Harumo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Morikawa
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Iwasawa
mesh_terms: D002384:Catalysis; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003681:Dehydration; D005561:Formates / Q000737:chemistry*; D016252:Microscopy, Scanning Tunneling / Q000379:methods*; D008956:Models, Chemical; D010100:Oxygen; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013499:Surface Properties; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D005561:Formates; C030544:formic acid; C009495:titanium dioxide; D014025:Titanium; D010100:Oxygen