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Interactions Of Au Cluster Anions With Oxygen, Qiang Sun, Puru Jena, Young Dok Kim, Matthias Fischer, Gerd Ganteför

Physics Publications

Experimental and theoretical evidence is presented for the nondissociative chemisorption of O2on free Au cluster anions (Au−n, n=number of atoms) with n=2, 4, 6 at room temperature, indicating that the stabilization of the activated di-oxygen species is the key for the unusual catalytic activities of Au-based catalysts. In contrast to Au−n with n=2, 4, 6, O2 adsorbs atomically on Aumonomer anions. For the Aumonomer neutral, calculations based on density functional theory reveal that oxygen should be molecularly bound. On Au dimer and tetramer neutrals, oxygen is molecularly bound with the O–O bond being less activated with respect to their …