Elementary Steps in the Catalytic Oxidation of Carbon Monoxide on Platinum Metals

TLDR: In this article, the authors investigated the influence of surface structure on the catalytic activity of a single crystal whose surface was curved in such a way that not only the plane but also vicinals with varying step density of two different crystallographic directions were present.

Abstract: Publisher Summary Catalytic oxidation of carbon monoxide over catalysts from the platinum group metals has been investigated. Apart from its enormous practical importance, this reaction is considered to proceed through a relatively simple mechanism because only diatomic molecules are involved and product formation occurs presumably only over a very few steps. This chapter discusses the adsorptive properties of the reactants, their mutual interaction, and the mechanism and kinetics of product formation as well as the investigations with well defined single-crystal surfaces. The activity of a catalyst for a particular reaction is strongly dependent on the surface structure. Directive investigation of the influence of the surface structure on the catalytic activity was performed by using a platinum single crystal whose surface was curved in such a way that not only the plane but also vicinals with varying step density of two different crystallographic directions were present.