title: Real-time infrared detection of cyanide flip on silver-alumina NOx removal catalyst.
abstract: Spectroscopic studies of the mechanistic steps that occur on supported precious metal catalysts used in industrial and automotive applications are hampered by a dearth of suitable experimental methods. We used femtosecond laser excitation followed by nanosecond time-resolved in situ Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy to initiate a catalytic reaction on alumina-supported silver catalysts, which are of interest in minimizing nitrogen oxide emissions from fuel-efficient lean-burn engines. We found that the key intermediate step in the reaction between carbon monoxide and nitric oxide is the flip of a cyanide group from a silver nanoparticle to the alumina support (with a lifetime of 2 microseconds), which indicates the central role played by the interface between the metal particle and the oxide support.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Catalyse et Spectrochimie, ENSICAEN-Université de Caen-CNRS, Boulevard Maréchal Juin, 14050 Caen Cedex, France. fts@ensicaen.fr
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Thibault-Starzyk
authors.forename: Etienne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Seguin
authors.forename: Sébastien
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Daturi
authors.forename: Heike
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Arnolds
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: King