Ponente
Descripción
Dibenzothiophene (DBT) is one of the organosulfur compounds present in fractions of crude oil, thus, the elimination process of this compound remains to be an important research topic. The gold nanoparticles are attractive for desulfurizing petroleum-derived fuels due to their high catalytic activity. However, the atomic scale mechanism of how the gold surface captures the thiophene derivatives is usually not known. It is therefore important to characterize the molecule–surface interaction as one aspect of the atomic-scale understanding of adsorption mechanisms. A profound insight into the dibenzothiophene-metal surface physicochemical interaction is key to reveal the steps within the adsorption process. For this purpose, the Au(111) surface modified from DBT was obtained by immersion of the substrate in the mixture solution of DBT/xylene. The DBT/Au(111) interface was characterized by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) and Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations. STM topographic images of the modified Au(111) surface illustrated the monocrystalline gold terraces entirely covered. The assembly of the molecules and their random distribution on the surface were also resolved. Finally, the combined experimental-theoretical analysis allowed us to get a deeper insight into the interactions taking place in the DBT/Au(111) interface.
Acknowledgments:
We would like to thank the support of PREI-DGAPA for the invited professor to MPHS and the generous allocation of computer time at the CCC-UAM. This work was partially supported by MICINN (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation) project PID2019-110091GB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and project PN223LH010-011 of the National Program of the Basic and Naturals Science (PNCByN).
