Dissociation of SO2on Au/TiC(001): Effects of Au–C Interactions and Charge Polarization

Activating gold: High-resolution photoemission spectroscopy and DFT calculations were used to study the interaction of SO2 with Au/TiC(001) surfaces. Both revealed molecular adsorption of SO2 on TiC(001) but complete dissociation of the SO bonds on Au/TiC(001) (see picture). Au/TiC(001) cleaves SO bonds more efficiently than Au/TiO2(110) or Au/MgO(100) and decomposes SO2 at temperatures as low as 150 K.