Building bridges in catalysis science. Monodispersed metallic nanoparticles for homogeneous catalysis and atomic scale characterization of catalysts under reaction conditions

The reactivity of small (<1.5 nm), highly oxidized metallic nanoparticles and the utilization of Sum Frequency Generation spectroscopy (SFG) and Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) for investigations of catalysts under reaction conditions are discussed in this review paper. Batch and flow reactor studies were carried out using highly oxidized 40 atom clusters (Pt, Pd and Rh) to measure reaction rate and product distribution of electrophilic reactions, using toluene as a solvent. These heterogeneous catalysts show reactivity which is similar and sometimes even higher than the homogeneous catalysts. The combination of an in situ SFG and STM measurements facilitate a detection of the surface structure and reaction intermediates under reaction conditions. While the STM detects the surface reconstruction and the mobility of products and reactants molecules, the SFG can correlate the reactivity and more importantly the selectivity, to the active surface intermediates. The recent developments in these two research areas are detailed in this review paper.