Heterogeneous surface processes

The plan of this chapter is as follows. We discuss chemisorption as a distinct topic, first from the molecular and then from the phenomenological points of view. Heterogeneous catalysis is then taken up, but now first from the phenomenological (and technologically important) viewpoint and then in terms of current knowledge about surface structures at the molecular level. Section XVIII-9F takes note of the current interest in photodriven surface processes. 

Studies of surfaces and surface properties can be traced to the early 1800s [1]. Processes that involved surfaces and surface chemistry, such as heterogeneous catalysis and Daguerre photography, were first discovered at that time. Since then, there has been a continual interest in catalysis, corrosion and other chemical reactions that involve surfaces. The modem era of surface science began in the late 1950s, when instmmentation that could be used to investigate surface processes on the molecular level started to become available. 

Decompositions rate-limited by a surface or desorption step comparable in some respects with heterogeneous catalytic processes... 

Many physical-chemical processes on surfaces of solids involve free atoms and radicals as intermediate particles. The latter diffuse along the adsorbent-catalyst surface and govern not only kinetics of catalytic, photocatalytic, or some heterogeneous radiative processes, but also creation of certain substances as a result of the reaction. 

A typical adsorption process in electrocatalysis is chemisorption, characteristic primarily for solid metal electrodes. The chemisorbed substance is often chemically modified during the adsorption process. Then either the substance itself or some fragment of it is bonded chemically to the electrode. As electrodes mostly have physically heterogeneous surfaces (see Sections 4.3.3 and 5.5.5), the Temkin adsorption isotherm (Eq. 4.3.46) is suitable for characterizing the adsorption. 

The dissolution of zinc in a mineral acid is much faster when the zinc contains an admixture of copper. This is because the surface of the metal contains copper crystallites at which hydrogen evolution occurs with a much lower overpotential than at zinc (see Fig. 5.54C). The mixed potential is shifted to a more positive value, E mix, and the corrosion current increases. In this case the cathodic and anodic processes occur on separate surfaces. This phenomenon is termed corrosion of a chemically heterogeneous surface. In the solution an electric current flows between the cathodic and anodic domains which represent short-circuited electrodes of a galvanic cell. A. de la Rive assumed this to be the only kind of corrosion, calling these systems local cells. 

Steam reforming is a heterogeneously catalyzed process, with nickel catalyst deposited throughout a preformed porous support. It is empirically observed in the industry, that conversion is proportional to the geometric surface area of the catalyst particles, rather than the internal pore area. This suggests that the particle behaves as an egg-shell type, as if all the catalytic activity were confined to a thin layer at the external surface. It has been demonstrated by conventional reaction-diffusion particle modelling that this behaviour is due to... 

Various works has pointed out the role of the nanostructure of the catalysts in their design.18-26 There is a general agreement that the nanostructure of the oxide particles is a key to control the reactivity and selectivity. Several papers have discussed the features and properties of nanostructured catalysts and oxides,27-41 but often the concept of nanostructure is not clearly defined. A heterogeneous catalyst should be optimized on a multiscale level, e.g. from the molecular level to the nano, micro- and meso-scale level.42 Therefore, not only the active site itself (molecular level) is relevant, but also the environment around the active site which orients or assist the coordination of the reactants, may induce sterical constrains on the transition state, and affect the short-range transport effects (nano-scale level).42 The catalytic surface process is in series with the transport of the reactants and the back-diffusion of the products which should be concerted with the catalytic transformation. Heat... 

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