Preparations of AuCl
n
in Na−Y zeolite
were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD),
ultraviolet
diffuse reflectance (UV−vis), Au LIII-edge X-ray
absorption near-edge structure (XANES), and extended
X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS).
Au2Cl6 was first homogeneously
dispersed on the zeolite surface
by mechanical mixing at room temperature under a nitrogen atmosphere.
The thermal evacuation of the
mixed sample at 323 K for 72 h led to the eruption of a sole
Au2Cl6 crystalline line at 2θ =
14.70° due to
the condensation of the gold species on the zeolite surface. The
detected Au−O bond by the EXAFS technique
has a coordination distance of 2.16 Å, which is about the same as that
registered for the tetrameric molecule
of dimethylgold(III) hydroxyl. Ramping the
Au2Cl6−Na−Y reaction temperature to
338 K yielded appreciable
amounts of Au(I) ions which were embedded with the
Cl- ions in a (AuCl)
n
zig-zag-like
structure. The
Au−O interactions were not apparent due to the removal of OH attached
to Au(III) at 338 K, thereby causing
the partial reduction of Au(III) to Au(I). In agreement
with the EXAFS data, the intensity of threshold
resonance due to the unoccupied d-states in the XANES spectrum of the
preparation at 323 K declined following
an increase of the temperature to 338 K, to resemble that recorded for
the AuCl reference compound. This
observation was associated with the UV−vis band broadening and
shifting at 225 nm to the lower energy
side because of the increase in population of the bridged Au−Cl
linkages over the terminal ones.