(492d) The Electrostatic Synthesis of Supported Au Catalysts with a Novel Cationic Precursor

The research into gold catalysts has been catapulted forward in recent years by the breakthrough paper from Gorin et al. on new and unique gold-catalyzed reactions . To understand the electrostatic interaction during impregnation of [Au(en)2]+3, three different supports were used and prepared by ?strong electrostatic adsorption? (SEA). The supports used were A90 (silica), Asbury (graphite), and SBA-15 (mesoporous silica), P25 (titania), Sachtleban (titania), and Ceria. Both titania and silica have been studied for cation adsorption by Zanella et al. and Zhu et al. but only at single pH. Samples prepared by SEA were compared to samples prepared by traditional Dry Impregnation (DI). Samples were analyzed by STEM ?z contrast? imagining for particle size and size distributions. The results showed that the SEA method can be applied to this precursor to synthesize well dispersed gold particles over various supports.

Gorin et al., Nature 446 (2007) 395. Zanella et al., Catal. Today 107-108 (2005) 768. Zhu et al., Appl. Catal. A: General 326 (2007) 89.