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Crystal-plane-dependent redox reaction on Cu surfaces

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Abstract

The dynamic redox process of surface oxide layers on metal surfaces is of great significance for understanding the active phase in catalytic reactions. We studied the formation of surface oxide layers on Cu(111) and Cu(110) in O2, as well as the subsequent reduction by CO using in situ scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). By monitoring and comparing the oxidation process of Cu(111) and Cu(110) surfaces, we found a crystal-plane-dependent reaction mechanism, which also applies to the reduction of surface oxide layers on Cu surfaces. We found XPS Cu spectra cannot be used to identify the various surface oxide layer on Cu surfaces, suggesting their presence in catalytic reactions might have been overlooked. The combination of STM and XPS studies are thus advantageous in identifying surface oxide structures and pinpointing the active phases in the redox process, which paves the way for engineering the catalyst and reaction environment for optimized catalytic performances.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Nos. 2017YFB0602205 and 2016YFA0202803), and National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21972144, 91545204, and 11227902). The authors thank the support from Analytical Instrumentation Center (No. SPST-AIC10112914), SPST, ShanghaiTech University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, 116023, China

    Yangsheng Li, Hao Chen, Wugen Huang, Yanxiao Ning, Qingfei Liu, Fan Yang & Xinhe Bao

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Yangsheng Li, Hao Chen, Wugen Huang & Qingfei Liu

  3. School of Physical Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, 201210, China

    Weijia Wang, Yong Han, Zhi Liu & Fan Yang

  4. Vacuum Interconnected Nanotech Workstation, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou, 215123, China

    Yi Cui

  5. State Key Laboratory of Functional Materials for Informatics, Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200050, China

    Zhi Liu

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  1. Yangsheng Li
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Correspondence to Fan Yang.

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Li, Y., Chen, H., Wang, W. et al. Crystal-plane-dependent redox reaction on Cu surfaces. Nano Res. 13, 1677–1685 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-2791-z

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