AI Article Synopsis
- This study investigates how CO decomposition occurs on both unsupported and TiO-supported copper (Cu) clusters using computational models.
- The energy required to break the C=O bond decreases significantly when CO is adsorbed on an unsupported Cu catalyst, but gas desorption remains a challenge.
- When Cu is supported on TiO, the reactivity improves, allowing for easier bond breaking and suggesting that sunlight might facilitate CO activation through charge transfer.
Article Abstract
In this work, we explore the decomposition of CO on unsupported and TiO-supported Cu clusters via computational modeling, using both finite cluster and periodic slab structures of the rutile TiO(110) surface. While the energy needed for C=O bond breaking is already significantly reduced upon adsorption onto the unsupported metal catalyst (it drops from 7.8 to 1.3 eV), gas desorption before bond activation is still the inevitable outcome due to the remaining barrier height even at 0 K. However, when the Cu cluster itself is supported on TiO, reactant and product adsorption is strongly enhanced, the barrier for bond breaking is further reduced, and a spontaneous decomposition of the molecule is predicted. This finding is linked to our previous work on charge-transfer processes in the Cu-TiO system triggered by solar photons, since a combination of both phenomena at suitable temperatures would allow for a photoinduced activation of CO by sunlight.
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Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6777821 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.9b06620 | DOI Listing |
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