Detailed studies of elementary chemical processes on well-characterized single crystal surfaces have contributed substantially to the understanding of heterogeneous catalysis. Insight into the structure of surface alloys combined with an understanding of the relation between the surface composition and reactivity is shown to lead directly to new ideas for catalyst design. The feasibility of such an approach is illustrated by the synthesis, characterization, and tests of a high-surface area gold-nickel catalyst for steam reforming.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/279/5358/1913.full.pdf

Design of a Surface Alloy Catalyst for Steam Reforming

The powerful computational resources available to scientists today, together with recent improvements in electronic structure calculation algorithms, are providing important new tools for researchers in the fields of surface science and catalysis. In this review, we discuss first principles calculations that are now capable of providing qualitative and, in many cases, quantitative insights into surface chemistry. The calculations can aid in the establishment of chemisorption trends across the transition metals, in the characterization of reaction pathways on individual metals, and in the design of novel catalysts. First principles studies provide an excellent fundamental complement to experimental investigations of the above phenomena and can often allow the elucidation of important mechanistic details that would be difficult, if not impossible, to determine from experiments alone.

Electronic structure and catalysis on metal surfaces

Microscale combustion: Technology development and fundamental research

Surface chemistry and catalysis on well-defined epitaxial iron-oxide layers

To predict where a catalytic reaction should occur is a fundamental issue scientifically. Technologically, it is also important because it can facilitate the catalyst's design. However, to date, the understanding of this issue is rather limited. In this work, two types of reactions, CH(4) CH(3) + H and CO C + O on two transition metal surfaces, were chosen as model systems aiming to address in general where a catalytic reaction should occur. The dissociations of CH(4) --> CH(3) + H and CO --> C + O and their reverse reactions on flat, stepped, and kinked Rh and Pd surfaces were studied in detail. We find the following: First, for the CH(4) Ch(3) + H reaction, the dissociation barrier is reduced by approximately 0.3 eV on steps and kinks as compared to that on flat surfaces. On the other hand, there is essentially no difference in barrier for the association reaction of CH(3) + H on the flat surfaces and the defects. Second, for the CO C + O reaction, the dissociation barrier decreases dramatically (more than 0.8 eV on Rh and Pd) on steps and kinks as compared to that on flat surfaces. In contrast to the CH(3) + H reaction, the C + O association reaction also preferentially occurs on steps and kinks. We also present a detailed analysis of the reaction barriers in which each barrier is decomposed quantitatively into a local electronic effect and a geometrical effect. Our DFT calculations show that surface defects such as steps and kinks can largely facilitate bond breaking, while whether the surface defects could promote bond formation depends on the individual reaction as well as the particular metal. The physical origin of these trends is identified and discussed. On the basis of our results, we arrive at some simple rules with respect to where a reaction should occur: (i) defects such as steps are always favored for dissociation reactions as compared to flat surfaces; and (ii) the reaction site of the association reactions is largely related to the magnitude of the bonding competition effect, which is determined by the reactant and metal valency. Reactions with high valency reactants are more likely to occur on defects (more structure-sensitive), as compared to reactions with low valency reactants. Moreover, the reactions on late transition metals are more likely to proceed on defects than those on the early transition metals.

General Rules for Predicting Where a Catalytic Reaction Should Occur on Metal Surfaces: A Density Functional Theory Study of C−H and C−O Bond Breaking/Making on Flat, Stepped, and Kinked Metal Surfaces

The dynamics of the activated dissociative chemisorption of CH4 on Ni(111) are studied by molecular beam techniques coupled with high‐resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy. The probability of the dissociative chemisorption of CH4 increases exponentially with the normal component of the incident molecule’s translational energy and with vibrational excitation. The dissociative chemisorption probability of CD4 exhibits the same trends with a large kinetic isotope effect. High‐resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy identifies the nascent products of the dissociative chemisorption event as an adsorbed methyl radical and a hydrogen atom. These results, which have shown that there is a barrier to the dissociative chemisorption, are interpreted in terms of a deformation model for the role of translational and vibrational energy in promoting dissociative chemisorption. The barrier likely arises largely from the energy required to deform the molecule sufficiently to allow a strong attractive interaction between the carbon and the Ni surface atoms. Tunneling is suggested as the final process in the C–H bond cleavage. The presence of this barrier to dissociative chemisorption presents a plausible explanation for the pressure gap in heterogeneous catalysis.

Dynamics of the activated dissociative chemisorption of CH4 and implication for the pressure gap in catalysis: A molecular beam–high resolution electron energy loss study

Q. Y. Yang

Papers

Dynamics of the activated dissociative chemisorption of CH4 and implication for the pressure gap in catalysis: A molecular beam–high resolution electron energy loss study