Performing oxidation reactions at low temperatures using earth-abundant materials is crucial for advancing solutions for sustainable chemistry. CO oxidation serves as a benchmark reaction to characterize oxidation and to advance fundamental concepts in surface chemistry. While there are several examples of CO oxidation occurring on metal oxides at low temperatures, from 300 K to ∼200 K, reactivity in the cryogenic temperature regime typically requires a metal nanoparticle on a metal oxide. Here, we show oxygen atoms on the (111) facet of Cu₂O react with CO to form CO₂ at temperatures below 100 K. Combining spectroscopic experimental evidence with calculations, we propose a low barrier path for CO oxidation at reconstructed surface sites on Cu₂O(111). This finding is a rare example of an earth-abundant metal oxide, in this case copper, that can provide highly reactive multifunctional sites, enabling both adsorption and reaction fundamental steps toward the efficient heterogeneous oxidation of chemicals.

Surface nitrogen structures on Fe(100) obtained by bulk-to-surface nitrogen segregation are studied using a combination of high-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and real-space imaging using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The core-level XPS N 1s results show one sharp peak, suggesting that the N atoms are mainly located in one site. The binding energy is consistent with the literature value of the Fe(100)/c(2 × 2)-N structure, for which the nitrogen atoms reside in four-fold hollow sites. Furthermore, the STM-images show regions of well-ordered Fe(100)/c(2 × 2)-N structure and regions with a high density of anti-phase domain boundaries. Regions with narrow stripe-like, 3 N atoms wide, anti-phase c(2 × 2)-N domains were observed. The anti-phase domain boundaries between the stripe-shaped domains have higher N coverage than within large well-ordered Fe(100)/c(2 × 2)-N domains.

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) consist of a low coverage of isolated metal atoms dispersed on a metal substrate, called single-atom alloys (SAAs), or alternatively single metal atoms coordinated to oxygen atoms on an oxide support. We present the synthesis of a new type of Co₁Cu SAC centers on a Cu₂O(111) support by means of a site-selective atomic layer deposition technique. Isolated metallic Co atoms selectively coordinate to the native oxygen vacancy sites (Cu sites) of the reconstructed Cu₂O(111) surface, forming a Co₁Cu SAA with no direct Co- O_x bonds. The centers, here referred to as Co₁Cu hybrid SACs, are found to stabilize the active Cu⁺ sites of the low-cost Cu₂O catalyst that otherwise is prone to deactivation under reaction conditions. The stability of the Cu₂O(111) surface was investigated by synchrotron radiation-based ambient-pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy under reducing CO environment. The structure and reduction reaction are modeled by density functional theory calculations, in good agreement with experimental results.

The adsorption of sulfur dioxide (SO2) at room temperature on iron oxide surfaces has been studied using corelevel photoelectron spectroscopy. A variety of iron oxides, from adsorbate structure to thin film, with different stoichiometries and terminations were grown on common low-index single crystal iron surfaces to model a range of structures in the initial stages of atmospheric oxidation. This permits well-controlled comparisons of differences and similarities in SO2 interaction. Both non-dissociative and dissociative adsorption of SO2 were observed, to different relative and absolute coverages, on all surfaces. The only identified non-dissociated species is SO4. For all surfaces, at least some amounts of atomic sulfur are observed while only for the submonolayer adsorbate structure, also tentative dimerization of sulfur into S2 or formation of S-Osurface is observed. For the two oxides terminated by a complete well-ordered oxygen layer, the absolute sulfur coverage is low. The complete oxygen layer terminated oxide film exhibiting a moire acute accent -pattern had a saturation coverage of one SO4 species per surface super cell, which indicates a tentative preferred adsorption site. The surface showing the highest SO4 formation is the Fe3O4(100) thin film surface with a corrugated row structure. The SO4 formation is suggested between surface oxygen atoms within the same row.

Ethanol dehydrogenation on metal oxides such as Cu2O is an important reaction for the production of renewable energy by fuel cells both via the production of H-2 fuel and via application in direct alcohol fuel cells. To better understand this reaction, we studied the adsorption, dissociation, and desorption of ethanol on Cu2O(111) and (100) surfaces using high-resolution photoelectron spectroscopy, vibrational sum-frequency generation spectroscopy, and temperature-programmed desorption accompanied by density functional theory calculations. On Cu-2(100), the first layer consists primarily of dissociatively adsorbed ethoxy. Second and third layers of ethanol physisorb at low temperatures and desorb below 200 K. On the Cu2O(111) surface, adsorption is mixed as ethoxy, ethanol, and the products following C-C cleavage, CHx, and OCHx, are found in the first layer. Upon heating, products following both C-C and C-O bond breaking are observed on both surfaces and continued heating accentuates molecular cracking. C-O cleavage occurs more on the (100) surface, whereas on the Cu2O(111) surface, C-C cleavage dominates and occurs at lower temperatures than those for the (100) surface. The increased ability of Cu2O(111) to crack ethanol is explained by the varied surface structure including surface oxygen, electron-rich O vacancies, and Cu.

Proton-exchange-membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are attractive next-generation power sources for use in vehicles and other applications(1), with development efforts focusing on improving the catalyst system of the fuel cell. One problem is catalyst poisoning by impurity gases such as carbon monoxide (CO), which typically comprises about one per cent of hydrogen fuel(2-4). A possible solution is on-board hydrogen purification, which involves preferential oxidation of CO in hydrogen (PROX)(3-7). However, this approach is challenging(8-15) because the catalyst needs to be active and selective towards CO oxidation over a broad range of low temperatures so that CO is efficiently removed (to below 50 parts per million) during continuous PEMFC operation (at about 353 kelvin) and, in the case of automotive fuel cells, during frequent cold-start periods. Here we show that atomically dispersed iron hydroxide, selectively deposited on silica-supported platinum (Pt) nanoparticles, enables complete and 100 per cent selective CO removal through the PROX reaction over the broad temperature range of 198 to 380 kelvin. We find that the mass-specific activity of this system is about 30 times higher than that of more conventional catalysts consisting of Pt on iron oxide supports. In situ X-ray absorption fine-structure measurements reveal that most of the iron hydroxide exists as Fe-1(OH)(x) clusters anchored on the Pt nanoparticles, with density functional theory calculations indicating that Fe-1(OH)(x)-Pt single interfacial sites can readily react with CO and facilitate oxygen activation. These findings suggest that in addition to strategies that target oxide-supported precious-metal nanoparticles or isolated metal atoms, the deposition of isolated transition-metal complexes offers new ways of designing highly active metal catalysts.

The initial oxidation of Fe(100) at 400 degrees C has been studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), and low-energy electron diffraction, in combination with density functional theory calculations. The first observed well-ordered surface oxide is formed at a coverage of similar to 3 oxygen atoms per unreconstructed surface Fe(100) atom. STM shows that this surface oxide is terminated by straight atomic rows exhibiting a p(2 X 1) periodicity. However, already for oxide films with a coverage of similar to 4 oxygen atoms (corresponding to one Fe3O4 unit cell thickness), wiggly atomic rows appear similar to the c(2 X 2) reconstructed Fe3O4 (100)-surface with the Fe3O4 unit vectors rotated 45 degrees to Fe(100). The wiggly rows are a consequence of subsurface cation iron vacancies, which previously have been observed for bulk surfaces. The formation of subsurface vacancies is supported by the XPS O is signature, which is modeled by considering the core-level shifts for all oxygen atoms in the film. Throughout the oxidation series, the microscopy results reveal a layer-by-layer (Frank-van der Merwe) growth.

Reduction of Cu2O by hydrogen is a common preparation step for heterogeneous catalysts; however, a detailed understanding of the atomic reaction pathways is still lacking. Here, we investigate the interaction of atomic hydrogen with the Cu2O(100):(3,0;1,1) and Cu2O(111):(root 3 x root 3)R30 degrees surfaces using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), low-energy electron diffraction, temperature-programmed desorption (TPD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The experimental results are compared to density functional theory simulations. At 300 K, we identify the most favorable adsorption site on the Cu2O(100) surface: hydrogen atoms bind to an oxygen site located at the base of the atomic rows intrinsic to the (3,0;1,1) surface. The resulting hydroxyl group subsequently migrates to a nearby Cu trimer site. TPD analysis identifies H-2 as the principal desorption product. These observations imply that H-2 is formed through a disproportionation reaction of surface hydroxyl groups. The interaction of H with the (111) surface is more complex, including coordination to both Cu+ and O-CUS sites. STM and XPS analyses reveal the formation of metallic copper clusters on the Cu2O surfaces after cycles of hydrogen exposure and annealing. The interaction of the Cu clusters with the substrate is notably different for the two surface terminations studied: after annealing, the Cu clusters coalesce on the (100) termination, and the (3,0;1,1) reconstruction is partially recovered. Clusters formed on the (111) surface are less prone to coalescence, and the (root 3 x root 3)R30 degrees reconstruction was not recovered by heat treatment, indicating a weaker Cu cluster to support interaction on the (100) surface.

The effect of sub-monolayer silicon on the oxidation of Al(111) and Al(100) surfaces was investigated using X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. On both surfaces the adatom site is preferred over substituting Si into the Al-lattice; on Al(100) the four fold hollow site is vastly favored whereas on Al(111) bridge and hollow sites are almost equal in energy. Upon O 2 exposure, Si is not oxidized but buried at the metal/oxide interface under the growing aluminum oxide. On Al(111), Si has a catalytic effect on both the initial oxidation by aiding in creating a higher local oxygen coverage in the early stages of oxidation and, in particular, at higher oxide coverages by facilitating lifting Al from the metal into the oxide. The final oxide, as measured from the Al2p intensity, is 25–30% thicker with Si than without. This observation is valid for both 0.1 monolayer (ML) and 0.3 ML Si coverage. On Al(100), on the other hand, at 0.16 ML Si coverage, the initial oxidation is faster than for the bare surface due to Si island edges being active in the oxide growth. At 0.5 ML Si coverage the oxidation is slower, as the islands coalesce and he amount of edges reduces. Upon oxide formation the effect of Si vanishes as it is overgrown by Al 2 O 3 , and the oxide thickness is only 6% higher than on bare Al(100), for both Si coverages studied. Our findings indicate that, in addition to a vanishing oxygen adsorption energy and Mott potential, a detailed picture of atom exchange and transport at the metal/oxide interface has to be taken into account to explain the limiting oxide thickness.

Adsorption and desorption of methanol on the (111) and (100) surfaces of  Cu2O have been studied using high-resolution photoelectron spectroscopy in the temperature range 120–620 K, in combination with density functional theorycalculations and sum frequency generation spectroscopy. The bare (100) surfaceexhibits a (3,0; 1,1) reconstruction but restructures during the adsorption process into a Cu-dimer geometry stabilized by methoxy and hydrogen binding in Cu-bridge sites. During the restructuring process, oxygen atoms from the bulk that can host hydrogen appear on the surface. Heating transforms methoxy to formaldehyde, but further dehydrogenation is limited by the stability of the surface and the limited access to surface oxygen. The (√3 × √3)R30°-reconstructed (111) surface is based on ordered surface oxygen and copper ions and vacancies, which offers a palette of adsorption and reaction sites. Already at 140 K, a mixed layer of methoxy, formaldehyde, and CHxOy is formed. Heating to room temperature leaves OCH and CHx. Thus both CH-bond breaking and CO-scission are active on this  surface at low temperature. The higher ability to dehydrogenate methanol on (111) compared to (100) is explained by the multitude of adsorption sites and, in particular, the availability of surfaceoxygen.