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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik

O 76: Poster Session VI: Supported nanoclusters: structure, reactions, catalysis

O 76.3: Poster

Wednesday, March 3, 2021, 13:30–15:30, P

Reactivity and Passivation of Fe Nanoclusters on h-BN/Rh(111) — •Natalie Jessica Waleska, Fabian Düll, Philipp Bachmann, Felix Hemauer, Johann Steinhauer, Hans-Peter Steinrück, and Christian Papp — Friedrich-Alexander-Universität, Erlangen, Germany

Iron is a nontoxic and affordable element, which shows high catalytic activity. Iron containing catalysts are used in important industrial reactions, such as the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and the Haber-Bosch process. Especially, iron nanoclusters are of interest because of their potential utilization in electrochemical devices or high-density data storage applications due to their magnetic properties.

To obtain monodisperse, ordered Fe nanocluster arrays, h-BN was used as a template on the Rh(111) surface. Due to the lattice mismatch, differences in the strength of interaction between the h-BN sheet and the Rh(111) surface occur, leading to corrugation of the nanosheet and the formation of pores and wires.

We studied Fe nanocluster arrays formed in the pores of h-BN/Rh(111) using in situ high-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. CO was used as a probe molecule to investigate the morphology, such as the available adsorption sites and the reactivity of the nanoclusters. On the as prepared Fe clusters, CO was adsorbed at on-top and hollow/edge sites and dissociated at 300 K. For the C and O pre-covered Fe nanoclusters we found a passivation of the catalytic activity as a result of adsorption site blocking, allowing for the determination of the most active sites of the Fe clusters.