Carbon Monoxide Oxidation over Gold Nanoparticles Deposited onto Alumina Film Grown on Mo(110) Substrate: An Effect of Charge Tunneling through the Oxide Film.

Formation of gold nanosized particles supported by aluminum oxide film grown on Mo(110) substrate and oxidation of carbon monoxide molecules on their surface have been in-situ studied in ultra-high vacuum by means of Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), reflection-absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS), low energy electron diffraction (LEED), atomic force microscopy (AFM), temperature-programmed desorption (TPD), and work function measurements. The main focus was to follow how the thickness of the alumina film influences the efficiency of CO oxidation in an attempt to find out evidence of the possible effect of electron tunneling between the metal substrate and the Au particle through the oxide interlayer. Providing the largest degree of surface identity of the studied metal/oxide system at different thicknesses of the alumina film (two, four, six, and eight monolayers), it was found that the CO oxidation efficiency, defined as CO2 to CO TPD peaks intensity ratio, exponentially decays with the oxide film thickness growth. Taking into account the known fact that the CO oxidation efficiency depends on the amount of excess charge acquired by Au particle, the latter suggests that electron tunneling adds efficiency to the oxidation process, although not significantly.