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To reveal the origin of the difference between the Pt-Pt bond distance in Au(core)-Pt(shell)-type (PtAu) nanoparticles and that in a Pt overlayer on Au(111), alloy-type PtAu nanoparticles were prepared on a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) surface by arc plasma deposition and their structure was investigated under various electrochemical conditions by bentcrystal Laue analyzer (BCLA)-empowered back-illuminated X-ray absorption fine structure (BCLA + BI-XAFS) and high-energyilluminated X-ray absorption near-edge structure (HERFD + BIXANES) methods. On the basis of the XAFS analysis at both edges, we proposed the formation of a PtAu alloy core covered with a Pt-rich shell at 0.4 VRHE, where the Pt-Pt, Pt-Au, and Au- Au bond lengths were all found to be similar to 2.76 A. The Au-Au bond length was abnormally shorter than that for bulk Au. The Pt shell was dissolved under applied potentials greater than 0.8 VRHE with the aid of the high-intensity X-rays, and the Au-Au distance increased. We concluded that the abnormal bond lengths were due to the strong surface tension from the Pt-rich shell and the relaxation of the lattice distortion. The Pt-Pt bond length in the PtAu nanoparticles decreases as a result of the surface tension of the nanoparticles; this surface tension does not exist on flat Au surfaces, where the lattice distortion between the Pt overlayer and the substrate is the main driving force for the expansion of the Pt-Pt bond length.

Understanding the excited state of photocatalysts is significant to improve their activity for water splitting reaction. X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectroscopy in X-ray free electron lasers (XFEL) is a powerful method to address dynamic changes in electronic states and structures of photocatalysts in the excited state in ultrafast short time scales. The ultrafast atomic-scale local structural change in photoexcited WO3 was observed by W L-1 edge XAFS spectroscopy using an XFEL. An anisotropic local distortion around the W atom could reproduce well the spectral features at a delay time of 100 ps after photoexcitation based on full potential multiple scattering calculations. The distortion involved the movement of W to shrink the shortest W-O bonds and elongate the longest one. The movement of the W atom could be explained by the filling of the d(xy) and d(zx) orbitals, which were originally located at the bottom of the conduction band with photoexcited electrons.

Adsorption is a fundamental step in catalysis on a solid surface, and therefore, its understanding is important for explaining its behavior. This work investigated the adsorption of various small molecules, including H-2, N-2, CO, CO2, CH4, NH3, H2O, H2S, dimethyl sulfoxide, alkanes, alkenes, alkynes, aromatic compounds, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, nitriles, carboxylic acids, amides, and amines, on the anatase (101) and rutile (110) surfaces of TiO2, using periodic density functional theory calculations and statistical methods. Adsorption energies were computed at the same level of theory to obtain a clean and consistent data set. A linear relationship was observed between the adsorption energies of these molecules and their highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) levels, whereas no obvious correlation was evident for the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital levels. Improved correlations between the adsorption energies and HOMO levels were generated by dividing these, molecules into two subgroups: hydrocarbons and heteroatom- containing compounds. Interactions between frontier molecular orbitals and the surfaces were considered, to gain a better understanding of the significant correlations that were identified. The data show that these relationships can be primarily ascribed to the interactions between the HOMO of the small molecule and conduction state of the TiO2 surface. The statistical analysis using machine learning demonstrated that the HOMO and dipole moment are the first and second most important properties, respectively, in terms of rationalizing and predicting the adsorption energies.

Precise control of the three-dimensional (3D) structure of highly dispersed metal species such as metal complexes and clusters attached to an oxide surface has been important for the development of next-generation high-performance heterogeneous catalysts. However, this is not easily achieved for the following reasons. (1) Metal species are easily aggregated on an oxide surface, which makes it difficult to control their size and orientation definitely. (2) Determination of the 3D structure of the metal species on an oxide powder surface is hardly possible. To overcome these difficulties, we have developed the premodified surface method, where prior to metal deposition, the oxide surface is premodified with a functional organic molecule that can strongly coordinate to a metal atom. This method has successfully provided a single metal dispersion on an oxide single-crystal surface with the 3D structure precisely determined by polarization-dependent total reflection fluorescence X-ray absorption fine structure (PTRF-XAFS). Here we describe our recent results on ultra-high dispersions of various metal atoms on TiO2(110) surfaces premodified with mercapto compounds, and show the possibility of fine tuning and orientation control of the surface metal 3D structures.

We have shown a possibility of multi-atom resonant X-ray Raman (MARX-Raman) spectroscopy by measuring the N K-edge loss spectrum of TaN at Ta L3-edge and C K-edge loss spectrum of Er(C5H5)3 at Er L1-edge. When the excitation X-ray energy was tuned to the Ta L3-edge and inelastic scattering spectra were recorded around 400 eV loss corresponding to the N K-edge Raman region, we found a clear enhancement of emission spectrum. The same enhancement was observed in C K-edge Raman region in Er(C5H5)3. These experimental results have indicated the possibility of MARX-Raman phenomenon which may lead to a new in situ and bond-speci_c XAFS spectroscopy for low Z elements.