title: CeO2-supported Au38(SR)24 nanocluster catalysts for CO oxidation: a comparison of ligand-on and -off catalysts.
abstract: The catalytic properties of atomically precise, thiolate-protected Au38(SR)24 (R = CH2CH2Ph) nanoclusters supported on CeO2 were investigated for CO oxidation in a fixed bed quartz reactor. Oxygen (O2) thermal pretreatment of Au38(SR)24/CeO2 at a temperature between 100 and 175 °C largely enhanced the catalytic activity, while pretreatment at higher temperatures (>200 °C) for removing thiolate instead gave rise to a somewhat lower activity than that for 175 °C pretreatment, and the ligand-off clusters were also found to be less stable. The CO conversion in the case of wet feed-gas (i.e. the presence of H2O vapor) was appreciably higher than the case of dry feed-gas when the reaction temperature was kept relatively low (between 60 and 80 °C), and interestingly the ligand-on and ligand-off catalysts exhibited opposite response to water vapor. Finally, we discussed some insights into the catalytic reaction involving the well-defined gold nanocluster catalyst.
authors.affiliation: Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, China.
authors.forename: Xiaotao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Nie
authors.forename: Chenjie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Xiangang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Huifeng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.forename: Qingjie
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.forename: Hengyong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Rongchao
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jin