Clusters interface

Figure A.l. Schematic presentation of a catalytic cylindrical Pt cluster interfaced with an O2 -conducting solid electrolyte (YSZ) showing the flux, N, of the promoting species.

Carbon supported Pt and Pt-alloy electrocatalysts form the cornerstone of the current state-of-the-art electrocatalysts for medium and low temperature fuel cells such as phosphoric and proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMECs). Electrocatalysis on these nanophase clusters are very different from bulk materials due to unique short-range atomic order and the electronic environment of these cluster interfaces. Studies of these fundamental properties, especially in the context of alloy formation and particle size are, therefore, of great interest. This chapter provides an overview of the structure and electronic nature of these supported... 

The main effect not considered in the discussion by Lopez et a/.188 is the relative role of support-mediated reactions in the activity of Au clusters. This point of view is quite reasonable, for the aim of the paper by Lopez et al. was to focus on effects that occur across a wide range of supports. Nevertheless, it is interesting to note that most of the reaction pathways that have been specifically identified to date by DFT calculations for CO oxidation on supported gold invoke species that are adsorbed on the support or on the support/cluster interface.167,171,172,185,186 Only the work of Sanchez et al. for Aug on MgO(lOO)166 and calculations of Remediakis et al. for Au10 on reduced TiO2(110)187 have demonstrated a CO oxidation pathway that involves only adsorbates in contact with the Au cluster. In both of these cases, competing pathways that involve the support/cluster interface were also observed. 

Positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS) is an excellent technique for investigating vacancy clusters and vacancy—solute complexes behavior during irradiation since positrons are very sensitive to these types of defects. These defects are important for the formation of the feamres responsible for hardening. In this technique, positrons are applied as a probe and positrons are trapped by defects with electron densities different from the bulk materials. These defects can be vacancies, vacancy clusters, interfaces, second-phase particles, dislocations, etc. [69]. Positrons annihilate with a different probability in the defects as compared to the bulk material because of the difference in positron affinity to different atomic species [69]. The advantage of the technique lies in its nondestructiveness, self-seeking nature, and ability to find small defects (>0.1 nm) even in low concentrations (>1 ppm) [69]. PAS can provide information... 

There clearly exists a need for accurate models describing the intermolecu-lar interaction between water molecules. Furthermore, it would be highly desirable to develop hierarchical approaches in modeling those interactions, which can be systematically improvable. The incorporation of molecular level information into the models will enhance our understanding of the interplay between molecular properties and macroscopic observables. This understanding will ensure transferability across different environments such as clusters, interfaces, bulk water and ice, and wiU assist in expanding the current state-of-the-art in the area of force field development. 

The classic nucleation theory is an excellent qualitative foundation for the understanding of nucleation. It is not, however, appropriate to treat small clusters as bulk materials and to ignore the sometimes significant and diffuse interface region. This was pointed out some years ago by Cahn and Hilliard [16] and is reflected in their model for interfacial tension (see Section III-2B). 

Since solids do not exist as truly infinite systems, there are issues related to their temiination (i.e. surfaces). However, in most cases, the existence of a surface does not strongly affect the properties of the crystal as a whole. The number of atoms in the interior of a cluster scale as the cube of the size of the specimen while the number of surface atoms scale as the square of the size of the specimen. For a sample of macroscopic size, the number of interior atoms vastly exceeds the number of atoms at the surface. On the other hand, there are interesting properties of the surface of condensed matter systems that have no analogue in atomic or molecular systems. For example, electronic states can exist that trap electrons at the interface between a solid and the vacuum [1]. 

The experimental data and arguments by Trassatti [25] show that at the PZC, the water dipole contribution to the potential drop across the interface is relatively small, varying from about 0 V for An to about 0.2 V for In and Cd. For transition metals, values as high as 0.4 V are suggested. The basic idea of water clusters on the electrode surface dissociating as the electric field is increased has also been supported by in situ Fourier transfomr infrared (FTIR) studies [26], and this model also underlies more recent statistical mechanical studies [27]. 

In figure A3.3.9 the early-time results of the interface fonnation are shown for = 0.48. The classical spinodal corresponds to 0.58. Interface motion can be simply monitored by defining the domain boundary as the location where i = 0. Surface tension smooths the domain boundaries as time increases. Large interconnected clusters begin to break apart into small circular droplets around t = 160. This is because the quadratic nonlinearity eventually outpaces the cubic one when off-criticality is large, as is the case here. 

Lipid bilayer (Section 26 4) Arrangement of two layers of phospholipids that constitutes cell membranes The polar termini are located at the inner and outer membrane-water interfaces and the lipophilic hydrocarbon tails cluster on the inside... 

The efficiency of separation of solvent from solute varies with their nature and the rate of flow of liquid from the HPLC into the interface. Volatile solvents like hexane can be evaporated quickly and tend not to form large clusters, and therefore rates of flow of about 1 ml/min can be accepted from the HPLC apparatus. For less-volatile solvents like water, evaporation is slower, clusters are less easily broken down, and maximum flow rates are about 0.1-0.5 ml/min. Because separation of solvent from solute depends on relative volatilities and rates of diffusion, the greater the molecular mass difference between them, the better is the efficiency of separation. Generally, HPLC is used for substances that are nonvolatile or are thermally labile, as they would otherwise be analyzed by the practically simpler GC method the nonvolatile substances usually have molecular masses considerably larger than those of commonly used HPLC solvents, so separation is good. 

A stream of a liquid solution can be broken up into a spray of fine drops from which, under the action of aligned nozzles (skimmers) and vacuum regions, the solvent is removed to leave a beam of solute molecules, ready for ionization. The collimation of the initial spray into a linearly directed assembly of droplets, which become clusters and then single molecules, gives rise to the term particle beam interface. 

We have developed a theory that allows to determine the effective cluster interactions for surfaces of disordered alloys. It is based on the selfconsistent electronic structure of surfaces and includes the charge redistribution at the metal/vacuum interface. It can yield effective cluster interactions for any concentration profile and permits to determine the surface concentration profile from first principles in a selfconsistent manner, by... 

The Hg/V-methylformamide (NMF) interface has been studied by the capacitance method as a function of temperature.108,294,303 The potential of Hg was measured with respect to the reference electrode Ag/0.05 M AgC104 + 0.05 M NaC104 in water. The specific adsorption of C104 was found to be negligible at a < 6 /iC cm"2. The experimental capacitance data have been discussed in terms of the four-state model,121,291,294 which assumes the presence of both monomers and clusters in the surface layer of the solvent. The model has been found to describe the experimental picture qualitatively but not quantitatively. This is related to the fact that NMF is a strongly associated solvent.108,109,294,303... 

Surfactants have a unique long-chain molecular structure composed of a hydrophilic head and hydrophobic tail. Based on the nature of the hydrophilic part surfactants are generally categorized as anionic, non-ionic, cationic, and zwitter-ionic. They all have a natural tendency to adsorb at surfaces and interfaces when added in low concentration in water. Surfactant absorption/desorption at the vapor-liquid interface alters the surface tension, which decreases continually with increasing concentrations until the critical micelle concentration (CMC), at which micelles (colloid-sized clusters or aggregates of monomers) start to form is reached (Manglik et al. 2001 Hetsroni et al. 2003c). 

The cluster is coordinated at the tip of the cluster binding subdomain. Fe" (Fe-2) is close to the surface of the protein with its histidine ligands fully exposed to the solvent, whereas Fe " (Fe-1) is buried within the protein and surrounded by the three loops forming the cluster binding subdomain. However, in NDO the histidine ligands are not solvent accessible, but buried at the interface between the Rieske domain and the catalytic domain both histidine ligands form hydrogen bonds with acidic side chains in the catalytic site close to the catalytic iron. 

Fig. 2. The structure of the Fe protein (Av2) from Azotobacter vinelandii, after Geor-giadis et al. (1). The dimeric polypeptide is depicted by a ribbon diagram and the Fe4S4 cluster and ADP by space-filling models (MOLSCRIPT (196)). The Fe4S4 cluster is at the top of the molecule, bound equally to the two identical subunits, Emd the ADP molecule spans the interface between the subunits with MoO apparently binding in place of the terminal phosphate of ATP.

Figure 3 shows the three-dimensional structure of the MoFe protein from Klebsiella pneumoniae, Kpl, obtained at 1.65-A resolution (7). The overall structure of the polypeptides is frilly consistent with that reported earlier for Avl (3). The a and /8 subunits exhibit similar polypeptide folds with three domains of parallel /3 sheet/a helical type. At the interface between the three domains in the a subunit is a wide shallow cleft with the FeMoco at the bottom of the cleft about 10 A from the solvent. FeMoco is enclosed within the a subunit. The P cluster, however, is buried within the protein at the interface between the a and /8 subunits, being bound by cysteine residues from each subunit. A pseudo-twofold rotation axis passes between the two halves of the P cluster and relates the a and (3 subunits. Each af3 pair of subunits contains one FeMoco and one P cluster and thus appears... 

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