Creation of Supported Metal Complex, Metal Nanoparticle, and Metal Oxide Catalysts and Operando Synchrotron Radiation X-ray Analyses

Abstract

We developed regulated metal structures on supports for heterogeneous catalysis by the attachment and subsequent structural transformations of metal complexes on support surfaces such as metal oxides and carbon supports. Unique metal structures are sometimes different from original structures in solutions, and they are attractive in that they show unique catalytic performances which are often derived from cooperative behaviors of metal-metal and/or metal-support interactions, and provide new insights for heterogeneous catalysis. Synchrotron radiation X-ray analyses such as XAFS and XPS are one of the useful methods not only to characterize metal coordination structures on the surface but also to clarify the formation mechanism and the role at the redox/catalytic reaction under operation conditions. In this paper, we highlight our achievements on the development of supported metal complex, metal nanoparticle, and metal oxide catalysts in which synchrotron radiation X-ray analyses played important roles.