Elucidating Mechanisms and the Nature of Active Sites

Much of the current work on the mechanisms responsible for the unique Au activity have focused on understanding CO oxidation. CO oxidation is generally agreed to proceed by the adsorption of both CO and oxygen, the activation of oxygen, and the subsequent formation and desorption of It is stiU debated as to whether atomic or 

however, is still debated. The mechanism, however, is strongly dependent upon the charge state of the metal. We will, therefore, discuss the cmrent thoughts on the mechanisms in the subsections that follow and more specifically analyze the different charged states of the metal. 

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