Ag Nanoparticles Supported on Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia: A Synergistic System within Redox Environments

In this work, we report a distinctive dynamic sintering-free redox behavior of Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs) on 30 nm thick yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) films. The material system demonstrates reversible 200 nm shifts in the plasmonic spectra with an unprecedented particle phase/size/morphology oscillation during cyclic redox reactions in air and hydrogen/air at 300–400 °C. This is in significant contrast to the minor changes more commonly observed for AgNPs on quartz. It was found that the ionically active YSZ has a strong tendency to drive AgNPs to oxidize under oxidizing conditions, and upon surface oxidation a large differential surface energy is built up, forcing the core/shell particles to migrate and coalesce toward a lower system free energy. Most strikingly, once switched to a mixture of H2 and air, the previously formed large dewetted metal-core/thick oxide-shell particles collapse, and new small Ag nanoparticles quickly form and remain in a highly dispersed and sintering-free state on YSZ. This is found to likely be due to catalytic production of water over the material system, which plays a key role in the dynamic redox activities. It is hypothesized that the small metallic particle regeneration and sinter-free behavior take place through a four-step process resulting from the synergistic behavior of AgNPs supported on YSZ within a redox environment: (I) production of a local humid environment via catalytic reactions of H2 and O2 mostly at the triple-phase boundary, (II) dissolution of Ag+ from both reduced Ag and the AgO x shell, (III) collapse and spillover of the AgO x shell/water layer with Ag ions onto the hydrous YSZ surface, and (IV) reduction, diffusion, nucleation, and growth to new small metallic AgNPs with a dynamic equilibrium quickly reached. The findings behind this novel system could set up an avenue for a new concept of catalysts operating in a self-controlled dynamic regime for governing chemical reactions via metal and ceramic synergized catalysis with high activities and stabilities.