Molecular Understanding of Reactivity and Selectivity for Methanol Oxidation at the Au/TiO2 Interface

Gold catalysis: Experimental and theoretical data demonstrated consistently that the interfacial sites on a Au/TiO2 catalyst show both high reactivity and selectivity for low-temperature methanol oxidation with O2 to give formaldehyde. The microscopic mechanism of this complex reaction has been unraveled in full molecular detail (see picture, gold cluster on TiO2 surface).