Surface Buckling and Subsurface Oxygen: Atomistic Insights into the Surface Oxidation of Pt(111).

Platinum is a catalyst of choice in scientific investigations and technological applications, which are both often carried out in the presence of oxygen. Thus, a fundamental understanding of platinum's (electro)catalytic behavior requires a detailed knowledge of the structure and degree of oxidation of platinum surfaces in operando. ReaxFF reactive force field calculations of the surface energies for structures with up to one monolayer of oxygen on Pt(111) reveal four stable surface phases characterized by pure adsorbate, high- and low-coverage buckled, and subsurface-oxygen structures, respectively.

Development of a ReaxFF potential for Pt-O systems describing the energetics and dynamics of Pt-oxide formation.

ReaxFF force field parameters describing Pt-Pt and Pt-O interactions have been developed and tested. The Pt-Pt parameters are shown to accurately account for the chemical nature, atomic structures and other materials properties of bulk platinum phases, low and high-index platinum surfaces and nanoclusters. The Pt-O parameters reliably describe bulk platinum oxides, as well as oxygen adsorption and oxide formation on Pt(111) terraces and the {111} and {100} steps connecting them.