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SYCR: Symposium Chemical Reactions on Nanomaterials: Progress from in-situ Experimental Studies and Theoretical Investigations

SYCR 1: Chemical Reactions on Nanomaterials

SYCR 1.2: Invited Talk

Thursday, March 26, 2009, 14:30–15:00, BAR SCHÖ

Ruthenium oxide as oxidation catalyst — •Robert Schlögl, Dirk Rosenthal, Frank Girsdies, Raoul Blume, and Olaf Timpe — Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

The role of ruthenium oxide as potent catalyst for the oxidation of CO and methanol is controversially discussed using arguments from low-pressure experiments and from theory. We use bulk RuO2 and in-situ XPS plus in-situ XRD to elucidate the multiple nature of catalytic states in both reactions. Under pressures above 1 mbar a transient surface oxide is the most active state performing solely selective oxidation of methanol. Co-existing other states are less potent catalysts with different selectivity in ethanol oxidation. Surprising structural transformations and kinetic oscillations in CO oxidation underline the chemical dynamics of this metallic oxide with high anion mobility.