Date

Monday 14 Sep 2026

Time

15:15 - 15:45

Location

BW020

Supervisor

Irene Groot

2nd reviewer

Jaco Geuchies

Jury

Grégory F. Schneider

Heterogeneous catalysis and surface science are ever-evolving fields of study with the singleatom alloy (SAA) as one of their newest developments. This thesis investigates platinum SAAs on Au(111) on mica by looking at CO binding strength through TPD. Pure mica was used as a reference. Physical vapour deposition (PVD) of platinum on an Au(111) on mica surface yielded nanoparticles, assumed to be platinum, of 1 to 15 nm in diameter. A temperatureprogrammed desorption (TPD) analysis was performed on these sites, and a comparison between Pt@Au(111) on mica, Au(111) on mica and a pure mica reference was made. The activation energy of desorption for CO on mica was determined to be ≈39 kJ/mol, ≈0.40 eV. For Au(111) on mica, this was ≈41 kJ/mol, ≈0.42 eV. For Pt@Au(111) on mica, the CO desorption energy on the gold sites was determined to be ≈39 kJ/mol, ≈0.40 eV and ≈52 kJ/mol, ≈0.54 eV on the platinum nanoparticle sites. This shows that CO binds to platinum nanoparticle sites more weakly compared to bulk platinum, but stronger compared to bulk gold. In an investigation of the catalytic activity for CO oxidation, it was observed that mica holds the potential to oxidise CO. The platinum sites showed insufficient activity for CO oxidation, but require further research.