Catalytic CO oxidation by gas phase atomic clusters

Oxidation of carbon monoxide (CO) into CO₂ is a major solution to removal of CO in air purification and this oxidation process also serves as a prototypical reaction in heterogeneous catalysis. Atomic clusters are ideal models of active sites in condensed phase systems and the elementary and catalytic oxidations of CO by gas phase metal clusters are being actively studied. I will report our recent research progress on catalytic CO oxidation by hetero-nuclear metal oxide clusters including M-Al-O, M-Ti-O, and M-V-O (M=Au, Pt, Cu, Ni, or others) species in the gas phase. The hetero-nuclear metal oxide clusters are generally more catalytic than their homo-nuclear counterparts. The electronic origins such as electro-negativity ladder effect have been proposed to account for the enhanced catalytic reactivity in the oxidation of CO by O₂.

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