Anomalous diffusion of single metal atoms on a graphene oxide support

[Display omitted] •Time-resolved electron microscopy is used to image the motion of metal atoms on graphene oxide.•Atoms undergo anomalous diffusion behaviour due to the spatial and energetic disorder of the substrate.•Computational modelling of the disordered substrate reproduces the experimental o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Chemical physics letters 2017-09, Vol.683 (C), p.370-374
Main Authors: Furnival, Tom, Leary, Rowan K., Tyo, Eric C., Vajda, Stefan, Ramasse, Quentin M., Thomas, John Meurig, Bristowe, Paul D., Midgley, Paul A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anomalous diffusion
Graphene oxide
INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
Single atom catalysts
STEM
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Summary:[Display omitted] •Time-resolved electron microscopy is used to image the motion of metal atoms on graphene oxide.•Atoms undergo anomalous diffusion behaviour due to the spatial and energetic disorder of the substrate.•Computational modelling of the disordered substrate reproduces the experimental observations. Recent studies of single-atom catalysts open up the prospect of designing exceptionally active and environmentally efficient chemical processes. The stability and durability of such catalysts is governed by the strength with which the atoms are bound to their support and their diffusive behaviour. Here we use aberration-corrected STEM to image the diffusion of single copper adatoms on graphene oxide. We discover that individual atoms exhibit anomalous diffusion as a result of spatial and energetic disorder inherent in the support, and interpret the origins of this behaviour to develop a physical picture for the surface diffusion of single metal atoms.
ISSN:0009-2614
1873-4448
DOI:10.1016/j.cplett.2017.04.071