Spectroscopic Characterization of Surface Intermediates

University Of Illinois At Chicago, Chicago IL

Investigators

Abstract

This research project, supported in the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program, focuses on the use of reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy to characterize adsorbed intermediates on solid surfaces. Professor Trenary and his coworkers at the University of Illinois-Chicago will examine adsorbed species containing CN multiple bonds, which result from the reactions of methane and ammonia and related compounds on well characterized platinum surfaces. High quality experimental data, combined with density functional theory calculations, will be used to make structural assignments for these adsorbed intermediates. Instrumentation and method development also forms a significant portion of the work being carried out in this project. Reflection-absorption infrared spectroscopy is a very powerful tool for the identification of adsorbed intermediates in surface reaction chemistry. Professor Trenary and his group at the University of Illinois-Chicago, with the support of the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program, have developed an active laboratory for the development and use of this method to investigate surface reactions. Work in this project will concentrate on surface intermediates formed from the reactions of methane and ammonia adsorbed on platinum surfaces, with clear application to the understanding of HCN synthesis reactions.