In this project supported by the Experimental Physical Chemistry Program of the Chemistry Division, Ervin will investigate the interactions between gas-phase transition metal clusters and adsorbates. Energy-resolved collision-induced dissociation and time-resolved photodissociation experiments are used to measure the binding energies of adsorbates on the clusters. Statistical rate theory is applied to the cluster dissociation data to obtain desorption energies. Major thrusts include exploitation of photodissociation dynamics techniques to obtain binding energies of bare metal clusters and of adsorbates on clusters; exploration of gas-phase transition metal clusters as actual catalysts; and examination of small cluster/ligand systems of relevance to catalysis. A guide ion beam tandem mass spectrometer will be used to gather the data.
The data measured in this project are important for determining catalytic reaction mechanisms and for mapping out reaction paths. The clusters under study here are models for catalytic systems because they mimic small metal crystallites that comprise the reaction centers in catalysts used in industrial processes. Gas phase clusters themselves can also act as catalysts, as in the oxidation of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide by platinum cluster anions.
