Water-gas shift reaction on metal nanoclusters encapsulated in mesoporous ceria studied with ambient-pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

Metal nanoclusters (Au, Pt, Pd, Cu) encapsulated in channels of mesoporous ceria (mp-CeO(2)) were synthesized. The activation energies of water-gas shift (WGS) reaction performed at oxide-metal interfaces of metal nanoclusters encapsulated in mp-CeO(2) (M@mp-CeO(2)) are lower than those of metal nanoclusters impregnated on ceria nanorods (M/rod-CeO(2)). In situ studies using ambient-pressure XPS (AP-XPS) suggested that the surface chemistry of the internal concave surface of CeO(2) pores of M@mp-CeO(2) is different from that of external surfaces of CeO(2) of M/rod-CeO(2) under reaction conditions. AP-XPS identified the metallic state of the metal nanoclusters of these WGS catalysts (M@mp-CeO(2) and M/rod-CeO(2)) under a WGS reaction condition. The lower activation energy of M@mp-CeO(2) in contrast to M/rod-CeO(2) is related to the different surface chemistry of the two types of CeO(2) under the same reaction condition.