Small Copper Clusters Supported on SrTiO3: An Experimental and Theoretical Study

A theoretical and experimental study of nanocomposite systems prepared by depositing copper clusters on a perovskite (SrTiO3) was carried out. The supporting perovskite was prepared by a wet chemistry procedure (citrate route), whereas copper clusters were deposited by wet impregnation. This procedure was shown to allow a layer-by-layer growth, and to avoid any diffusion of copper into the perovskite. By comparing experimental and theoretical results, a strong interaction between the copper clusters and perovskite support was deduced. In particular, CuI oxide was shown to be most favoured at lower copper concentration, while CuII oxide prevailed when increasing the copper amount