An Automated and Rapid Process for Determining Number of Atoms in Supported Ultra-Small Metal Clusters

Abstract Since heterogeneous catalysis depends on surface chemistry, insights into the structure of supported catalytic materials is vital for understanding catalysis. We have developed a mass spectroscopic technique using very high angle annular dark field images in a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM), that gives the number of atoms per cluster. We have also developed a robust interactive computer program to analyze these images rapidly. In this proceeding, we will present our method and results on analyzing ultra-small and dispersed Pt clusters on amorphous carbon, as well as our preliminary results of Pt on γ-A12 O3. The ultra-small Pt clusters on the amorphous carbon Cu grid were made by a proprietary technique. Imaging for the STEM-based mass-spectroscopic technique was performed on a Field Emission Gun (FEG) VG HB601 STEM operated at l00kV. The absolute measured intensity from the clusters were converted to scattering cross-sections, which can then be converted to number of atoms: More details of this method can be found in Singhal, Yang and Gibson.