Oxidation of Carbon Monoxide on the Surface of a Metal Oxide Structure

The oxidation of carbon monoxide on the surface of the Au/Al 2 O 3 /Mo(110) structure was studied using modern methods of surface diagnostics. It is shown that at a high degree of identity of the structural, electronic, and adsorption properties of the Au/Al 2 O 3 /Mo(110) system with various aluminum oxide film thicknesses (2, 4, 6, and 8 monolayers), the oxidation efficiency of CO molecules desorbed into the gas phase decreases exponentially with increasing oxide film thickness. Taking into account the well-known fact that the efficiency of CO oxidation depends on the amount of the excess charge acquired by the gold nanoparticle, it is concluded that charge tunneling through the oxide layer increases the efficiency of the reaction on the surface of the studied metal oxide system.