TMC adsorption mechanisms relevant for catalyst preparation: Learning from geochemistry and colloid chemistry

COLL 127

Jean-Francois Lambert and Michel Che. Laboratoire de Reactivite de Surface (UMR7609 CNRS), Universite Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI), Tour 54, case courrier 178, UPMC, 4, Place Jussieu, 75252 Paris CEDEX 05, France
Adsorption of transition metal complexes (TMCs) on oxide surfaces constitutes the first preparative step in most synthesis procedures for supported metal catalysts. At the molecular level, phenomena occurring during this step include non-specific electrostatic adsorption, specific or "site adsorption" either by inner-sphere or outer-sphere complex formation, dissolution-reprecipitation... Although many controversies on the terminology of adsorption mechanisms exist in the catalysis literature, geochemists and colloid chemists have learned how to present a unified picture of adsorption at the oxide/solution interface. Several examples of TMC/oxide systems recently investigated in our laboratory will be provided in order to determine when and why a particular adsorption mechanism is predominant.