Abstract. CO oxidation on a clean Pt(111) single crystal and thin iron oxide films grown on Pt(111) was studied at different CO:O 2 ratios (between 1:5 and 5:1) and partial pressures up to 60 mbar at 400 -450 K. Structural characterization of the model catalysts was performed by scanning tunneling microscopy, low energy electron diffraction, Auger electron spectroscopy and temperature programmed desorption. It is found that monolayer FeO (111) films grown on Pt(111) are much more active than clean Pt(111) and nm-thick Fe 3 O 4 (111) films at all reaction conditions studied. Post-characterization of the catalysts revealed that at CO:O 2 >1 the FeO(111) film dewets the Pt surface with time, ultimately resulting in highly dispersed iron oxide particles on Pt(111). The film dewetting was monitored in situ by polarisation-modulated infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy. The reaction rate at 450 K exhibited first order for O 2 and non-monotonously depended on CO pressure. In O 2 -rich ambient the films were enriched with oxygen while maintaining the long range ordering.Based on the structure-reactivity relationships observed for the FeO/Pt films, we propose that the reaction proceeds through the formation of a well-ordered, oxygen-rich FeO x (1 < x < 2) film that reacts with CO through the redox mechanism. The reaction induced dewetting in fact deactivates the catalyst. The results may aid in our deeper understanding of reactivity of metal particles encapsulated by thin oxide films as a result of strong metal support interaction.

Thickness matters: Ultrathin oxide films on metals can greatly enhance catalytic activity, for example, in CO oxidation on an FeO(111) film grown on a Pt(111) substrate. Under the reaction conditions, the bilayer FeO film restructures to form a trilayer OFeO film (see picture). Experimental evidence for the structure/morphology of the film and theoretical modeling of the mechanism of its formation and CO oxidation on its surface are presented.

The morphology and thermal stability of Pt particles deposited on Fe 3 O 4 (111) films were studied by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and temperature programmed desorption of CO. Vacuum annealing at temperatures above 800 K led to significant Pt sintering that reduced CO uptake to a much higher extent than the Pt surface area. A similar effect on CO adsorption was observed after mild oxidation-reduction treatment at 500 K. The results are rationalized in terms of the strong metal-support interaction between Pt and Fe 3 O 4 , whereby the Pt particles were encapsulated by a FeO (111) monolayer film as shown by STM. The high adhesion energy between Pt and iron oxides derived from STM data is suggested to be the key factor for encapsulation.

International audienceThe structural stability of an FeO(111) film supported on Pt(111) was studied by density functional theory (DFT) as a function of oxygen pressure. The results showed formation of O-rich phases at elevated O-2 pressures and revealed a site specificity of the oxidation process within the coincidence (Moire) structure between FeO(111) and Pt(111), ultimately resulting in an ordered pattern of O-Fe-O trilayer islands, as observed by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). In addition, high resolution STM images revealed a (root 3 x root 3)R30 degrees superstructure of the FeO2 islands with respect to pristine FeO(111). This structure is rationalized by DFT in terms of strong relaxations within the Fe sublayer and can be considered as an intermediate state of the FeO(111) transformation into an Fe2O3(0001) film