High temperature postgrowing of Pt-nanocrystallites supported and encapsulated on TiO2(1 1 0) surface

High temperature postgrowing of Pt nanocrystallites is investigated on TiO2(1 1 0)-(1×n) support by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). It was shown earlier for Rh and Ir that by growing the noble metal clusters at high temperature (1100 K), metal particle-arrays can be fabricated with desired average distances and narrow size-distributions [Surf. Sci. 400 (1998) 281; J. Catal. 182 (1999) 511]. In the case of Pt, Dulub et al. have recently reported an ordered and self-limiting TiO1.1 overlayer grown on top of the supported metal nanoparticles on TiO2(1 1 0) [Phys. Rev. Lett. 84 (16) (2000) 3646]. It was shown in this work that the decoration with TiO1.1 overlayer does not hinder the ordered growing of Pt nanocrystallites. The giant noble metal nanoparticles grown in large separation are suitable for further studies on their site selective reactivity and catalytic properties.