Growth, morphology, interfacial effects and catalytic properties of Au on TiO2

We survey recent studies and present new data on the growth, interactions, structure and chemistry of gold deposited on TiO2(110) surfaces. The noble metal Au on TiO2(110) is a model system for weak interaction of a metal with an oxide substrate; it is also of interest because Au on TiO2 has unusually high activity as a catalyst for CO oxidation at room temperature. In this review, we present results on the growth of ultrathin films of Au on TiO2(110), as well as the morphology, interface formation, epitaxy, structure and electronic properties of Au on TiO2 single crystal and planar films. The results are compared to studies of Au on high-surface-area TiO2 catalysts in an attempt to bridge the gap between surface science experiments and the high pressure conditions of catalyst operation.