Adsorption Phenomena on Metal Oxide Surfaces
Summary
Adsorption at metal oxide interfaces underpins a wide range of technological and environmental processes, from heterogeneous catalysis and gas sensing to CO₂ capture and water treatment. Surface binding may occur through weak van der Waals interactions (physisorption) or via chemical bond formation (chemisorption), with the balance between these regimes determined by the nature of the oxide, its crystallographic orientation, defect populations and the identity of the adsorbate. Low-coordinated surface atoms, oxygen vacancies and dopant sites often serve as active centres that stabilise adsorbed molecules and promote bond activation. Spectroscopic methods such as infrared and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, combined with high-resolution microscopy, now permit in situ characterisation of adsorbate geometry and coverage-dependent behaviour. Parallel advances in atomistic modelling and ab initio thermodynamics allow prediction of adsorption energies and surface phase diagrams across temperature and pressure ranges relevant to industry. Together, these experimental and theoretical insights are guiding the rational design of metal oxide materials with tailored surface chemistry for energy conversion, emission control and molecular separation applications.
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Adsorption Phenomena on Metal Oxide Surfaces publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in adsorption phenomena on metal oxide surfaces across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Adsorption: Attachment of atoms or molecules to a solid surface.
Physisorption: Adsorption dominated by weak van der Waals forces without chemical bond formation.
Chemisorption: Adsorption involving formation of chemical bonds between adsorbate and surface atoms.
Lewis acid site: Surface centre that accepts an electron pair, often an undercoordinated metal ion.
Monodentate adsorption: Binding of a molecule to a surface through a single atom or functional group.
Bidentate adsorption: Binding through two atoms or functional groups, forming a chelating interaction.
Periclase: Crystalline form of magnesium oxide (MgO).
Brucite: Crystalline magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH)₂) produced by hydration of periclase.
Hydroxylation: Introduction of hydroxyl (–OH) groups onto a surface, often by reaction with water.
References
- MgO nanocube hydroxylation by nanometric water films. Nanoscale (2023).
- Basic Sites on Alumina with Preadsorbed Ethanol and Ammonia—An IR Study. Molecules (2024).
- Initial stages of CO 2 adsorption on CaO: a combined experimental and computational study. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics (2017).
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