Exploring similarities in reactivity of superatom species: a combined theoretical and experimental investigation

Abstract

The replacement of group 10-based materials by superatoms has gained great attention due to studies presenting similarities in electronic character and reactive nature between pairs. The current study extends the concept to systems of larger and varied composition as the pairs PdO+ and ZrO2+ as well as NiO+ and TiO2+ are interacted with C2H4 and CO through DFT calculations and guided-ion-beam mass spectrometry. It is determined that the pairs readily oxidize C2H4 while oxygen transfer is limited towards CO. Interestingly, within the reaction profiles for oxidation of C2H4 by PdO+ and NiO+, a spin crossover is observed which greatly increases the exothermicity of the process. This investigation presents a major step in identifying replacements for expensive group 10 metals in catalytic materials.