Hot atom chemistry: oxygen at stepped platinum surfaces

It is a paradigm in chemistry that chemical reaction are mainly governed by thermodynamics. Within this assumption, reaction rates can be derived from transition state theory which requires a quasi-equilibrium between reactants and activated transition state complexes that is achieved through friction. However, to reach thermal equilibrium through friction takes some time. Here we show, based on ab initio molecular dynamics simulations of the interaction of molecular oxygen with stepped Pt surfaces, that chemical reactions in heterogeneous catalysis can occur in a non-equilibrium fashion when the excess kinetic energy upon entering the potential well of a reaction intermediate is large enough.

The influence of gas purification and addition of macro amounts of metal-carbonyl complexes on the formation of single-atom metal-carbonyl-complexes

Using the Fast On-line Reaction Apparatus (FORA), the influence of various gas-purification columns onto the formation of metal carbonyl complexes (MCCs) under single-atom chemistry conditions was investigated. MCCs were synthesized from single atoms of Mo, Tc, Ru and Rh being produced by the spontaneous fission of 252Cf and recoiling into a CO-gas containing carrier gas atmosphere. The in-situ synthesized MCCs were volatile enough to be transported by the carrier gas to a charcoal trap where they were adsorbed and their subsequent decay was registered by γ-spectrometry. It was found that the type and combination of purification columns used to clean the applied CO-gas strongly influences the obtained formation and transport yields for all MCCs. With the exception of Rh-carbonyl, intense gas-purification strategies resulted in reduced formation and transport yields for MCCs in comparison with less efficient or even completely missing purification setups. It was postulated that the observed reduction in yield might depend on the content of Fe(CO)5 and Ni(CO)4, as well as potentially other MCCs, in the CO-gas, being formed by the interaction between CO and the steel-surfaces of FORA as well as from impurities in the used charcoal traps. Subsequently, it was shown that macro amounts of Fe(CO)5, Ni(CO)4, Mo(CO)6 and Re2(CO)10 added to the used process gas indeed increase significantly the overall yields for MCCs produced by 252Cf fission products. Ni(CO)4 appeared the most potent to increase the yield. Therefore, it was used in more detailed investigations. Using isothermal chromatography, it was shown that Ni(CO)4 does not affect the speciation of carbonyl species produced by the 252Cf fission product 104Mo. For 107Tc, 110Ru and 111Rh a speciation change cannot be excluded. For 111Rh a speciation change cannot be excluded. An inter-carbonyl transfer mechanism is suggested boosting the formation of MCCs. The current discovery might allow for new opportunities in various research fields, which are currently restricted by the low overall yields for MCCs produced under single-atom chemistry conditions. Examples are the chemical investigation of transactinides or the generation of radioactive ion beams from refractory metals at accelerators.

The influence of chemical parameters on the in-situ metal carbonyl complex formation studied with the fast on-line reaction apparatus (FORA)

A new setup named Fast On-line Reaction Apparatus (FORA) is presented which allows for the efficient investigation and optimization of metal carbonyl complex (MCC) formation reactions under various reaction conditions. The setup contains a 252Cf-source producing short-lived Mo, Tc, Ru and Rh isotopes at a rate of a few atoms per second by its 3% spontaneous fission decay branch. Those atoms are transformed within FORA in-situ into volatile metal carbonyl complexes (MCCs) by using CO-containing carrier gases. Here, the design, operation and performance of FORA is discussed, revealing it as a suitable setup for performing single-atom chemistry studies. The influence of various gas-additives, such as CO2, CH4, H2, Ar, O2, H2O and ambient air, on the formation and transport of MCCs was investigated. O2, H2O and air were found to harm the formation and transport of MCCs in FORA, with H2O being the most severe. An exception is Tc, for which about 130 ppmv of H2O caused an increased production and transport of volatile compounds. The other gas-additives were not influencing the formation and transport efficiency of MCCs. Using an older setup called Miss Piggy based on a similar working principle as FORA, it was additionally investigated if gas-additives are mostly affecting the formation or only the transport stability of MCCs. It was found that mostly formation is impacted, as MCCs appear to be much less sensitive to reacting with gas-additives in comparison to the bare Mo, Tc, Ru and Rh atoms.

Evaluating the sensitivity of radical chemistry and ozone formation to ambient VOCs and NO_<i>x</i> in Beijing

Measurements of OH, HO2, complex RO2 (alkene- and aromatic-related RO2) and total RO2 radicals taken during the integrated Study of AIR Pollution PROcesses in Beijing (AIRPRO) campaign in central Beijing in the summer of 2017, alongside observations of OH reactivity, are presented. The concentrations of radicals were elevated, with OH reaching up to 2.8×107moleculecm-3, HO2 peaking at 1×109moleculecm-3 and the total RO2 concentration reaching 5.5×109moleculecm-3. OH reactivity (k(OH)) peaked at 89 s−1 during the night, with a minimum during the afternoon of ≈22s-1 on average. An experimental budget analysis, in which the rates of production and destruction of the radicals are compared, highlighted that although the sources and sinks of OH were balanced under high NO concentrations, the OH sinks exceeded the known sources (by 15 ppbv h−1) under the very low NO conditions (<0.5 ppbv) experienced in the afternoons, demonstrating a missing OH source consistent with previous studies under high volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions and low NO loadings. Under the highest NO mixing ratios (104 ppbv), the HO2 production rate exceeded the rate of destruction by ≈50ppbvh-1, whilst the rate of destruction of total RO2 exceeded the production by the same rate, indicating that the net propagation rate of RO2 to HO2 may be substantially slower than assumed. If just 10 % of the RO2 radicals propagate to HO2 upon reaction with NO, the HO2 and RO2 budgets could be closed at high NO, but at low NO this lower RO2 to HO2 propagation rate revealed a missing RO2 sink that was similar in magnitude to the missing OH source. A detailed box model that incorporated the latest Master Chemical Mechanism (MCM3.3.1) reproduced the observed OH concentrations well but over-predicted the observed HO2 under low concentrations of NO (<1 ppbv) and under-predicted RO2 (both the complex RO2 fraction and other RO2 types which we classify as simple RO2) most significantly at the highest NO concentrations. The model also under-predicted the observed k(OH) consistently by ≈10s-1 across all NOx levels, highlighting that the good agreement for OH was fortuitous due to a cancellation of missing OH source and sink terms in its budget. Including heterogeneous loss of HO2 to aerosol surfaces did reduce the modelled HO2 concentrations in line with the observations but only at NO mixing ratios <0.3 ppbv. The inclusion of Cl atoms, formed from the photolysis of nitryl chloride, enhanced the modelled RO2 concentration on several mornings when the Cl atom concentration was calculated to exceed 1×104atomscm-3 and could reconcile the modelled and measured RO2 concentrations at these times. However, on other mornings, when the Cl atom concentration was lower, large under-predictions in total RO2 remained. Furthermore, the inclusion of Cl atom chemistry did not enhance the modelled RO2 beyond the first few hours after sunrise and so was unable to resolve the modelled under-prediction in RO2 observed at other times of the day. Model scenarios, in which missing VOC reactivity was included as an additional reaction that converted OH to RO2, highlighted that the modelled OH, HO2 and RO2 concentrations were sensitive to the choice of RO2 product. The level of modelled to measured agreement for HO2 and RO2 (both complex and simple) could be improved if the missing OH reactivity formed a larger RO2 species that was able to undergo reaction with NO, followed by isomerisation reactions reforming other RO2 species, before eventually generating HO2. In this work an α-pinene-derived RO2 species was used as an example. In this simulation, consistent with the experimental budget analysis, the model underestimated the observed OH, indicating a missing OH source. The model uncertainty, with regards to the types of RO2 species present and the radicals they form upon reaction with NO (HO2 directly or another RO2 species), leads to over an order of magnitude less O3 production calculated from the predicted peroxy radicals than calculated from the observed peroxy radicals at the highest NO concentrations. This demonstrates the rate at which the larger RO2 species propagate to HO2, to another RO2 or indeed to OH needs to be understood to accurately simulate the rate of ozone production in environments such as Beijing, where large multifunctional VOCs are likely present.

The study of rhenium pentacarbonyl complexes using single-atom chemistry in the gas phase

Two experiments prove Re pentacarbonyl could exist stably in the gas phase at the single-atom level.