Premium
First observation of dynamic shape changes of a gold nanoparticle catalyst under reaction gas environment by transmission electron microscopy
Author(s) -
Ueda Kouta,
Kawasaki Tadahiro,
Hasegawa Hitoshi,
Tanji Takayoshi,
Ichihashi Mikio
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/sia.2947
Subject(s) - transmission electron microscopy , catalysis , nanoparticle , colloidal gold , chemical engineering , electron microscope , carbon fibers , nanotechnology , materials science , scanning electron microscope , chemistry , composite material , optics , organic chemistry , physics , composite number , engineering
The surface structure of catalytic gold nanoparticles was observed dynamically during CO oxidation using an environmental‐cell transmission electron microscope (E‐cell TEM) system. In the developed system, the gold catalyst specimen can be set under the reaction gas condition by separating it from the vacuum using ultra‐thin carbon films. We have developed a method capable of yielding for carbon films 8‐nm thick, capable of withstanding a gas pressure of 2 atm. In situ observations using the above system indicated marked changes in the surface shape of the gold nanoparticle catalyst during the reaction. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.