Eder, M. M. J., Diebold, U., Heiz, U., Parkinson, G., Pavelec, J., Petzoldt, P., Schmid, M., & Tschurl, M. (2023, September 6). Heterogeneous Photocatalysis: Alcohols on Bare and Metal-decorated Titania(110) and Hematite(012) [Presentation]. Joint Annual Meeting of the Swiss Physical Society, Austrian Physical Society 2023, Basel, Switzerland.
Joint Annual Meeting of the Swiss Physical Society, Austrian Physical Society 2023
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Event date:
4-Sep-2023 - 8-Sep-2023
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Event place:
Basel, Switzerland
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Keywords:
Surface Physics
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Abstract:
We investigated the surface (photo)chemistry of alcohols on TiO2(110) and recently Fe2O3(012)
single crystals in ultra-high vacuum. Our studies focused on the role of the metal co-catalyst in
the photocatalytic reaction by comparing the reactivity of bare and metal-decorated surfaces. We
show that photocatalytic reactions are not merely a couple of redox reactions, but an interplay of
thermal and photon-driven steps.
On TiO2(110), the alcohol photoconversion allows for a steady-state production of molecular hydro-
gen and aldehydes/ketones. We rationalize the findings with a comprehensive mechanism taking
into account stoichiometry and charge-carrier dynamics. The identification of surface mechanisms
on Fe2O3 is less advanced, but there seem to be parallels in the photochemistry