Catalytic Kinetics of Different Types of Surface Atoms on Shaped Pd Nanocrystals.

To understand the catalytic properties or roles of different types of surface atoms on metal nanocatalysts, the catalytic kinetics and dynamics of the different types of surface atoms (plane and edge) were revealed for the first time by a statistical quantitative deconvolution of observables obtained from traditional single-molecule nanocatalysis of Pd nanocrystals.It was found that the edge and plane of Pd nanocubes show similar size-dependent product formation processes, but inverse product dissociation processes. This work helps push the traditional single-molecule nanocatalysis method towards the sub-particle level.