Electronic interactions and charge transfers of metal atoms and clusters on oxide surfaces

Understanding the interaction of small metal clusters and isolated atoms with oxide surfaces is crucial in order to rationalize the properties of heterogeneous catalysts composed of sub-nanometer metal particles dispersed on an oxide support. The interaction with the oxide surface can significantly alter the original properties of the metal deposit. In particular, the occurrence and the direction of charge transfer at the metal/oxide interface determine the chemical activity of the supported catalyst. The charge transfer depends on a number of factors like the nature of the oxide (reducible or non-reducible), the surface exposed, the presence of defects, the nature of the supported metal, etc. In this article we describe the most important conceptual aspects of the electronic metal–support interaction, a phenomenon related to the direct modification of the metal nano-particle determined by the formation of chemical bonds at the interface with the oxide. For metal nano-particles with a size of about 1 nm or below these effects become dominant although difficult to identify experimentally.