Chemisorption metal surfaces

It is of tremendous practical importance that at many metal surfaces chemisorption of a large variety of molecules can occur. This can easily be explained from a discussion on a molecular level as follows. At the surface of a crystal the co-ordination number of the metal atoms is lower than in the bulk of the crystal. Fig. 3.4 illustrates this for Ni. In the bulk the coordination number of all Ni atoms is 12, whereas on the three faces in Fig. 3.4 these numbers are only 8, 7 and 9 for the (100), (110) and (111) surfaces, respectively. So-called free valences exist at the surface. The numbers between brackets are the Miller indices of the surfaces. 

Catalytic activation of carbon monoxide on metal surfaces. Chemisorption on nonmetallic surfaces. 

According to most early observations on insufficiently cleaned metal surfaces, chemisorption proceeds slowly and continues at a decreasing rate, for several days, so that final attainment of equilibrium is never fully assured. Usually, the adsorbed amounts were determined at a stage when the gas uptake had become very slow. As described in the foregoing sections, on clean metallic surfaces chemisorption comes to a definite endpoint without a slow drift. However, even in such cases it is important to... 

Preliminary to oxidation, we can also consider the situation of oxygen adsorbing rapidly as physically adsorbed gas, followed by conversion at a slower rate to chemisorbed oxygen atoms. The chemisorbed oxygen, in turn, reacts with underlying metal to form metal oxide, a reaction that is activated mechanically by asperities moving over the metal surface. Chemisorption limits the amount of oxide that is formed in such a process, the rate of chemisorption following an equation identical in form to that of (29.57) [6]. Hence, whichever process apphes, the form of the final equation is essentially the same. ... 

Perhaps the most fascinating detail is the surface reconstruction that occurs with CO adsorption (see Refs. 311 and 312 for more general discussions of chemisorption-induced reconstructions of metal surfaces). As shown in Fig. XVI-8, for example, the Pt(lOO) bare surface reconstructs itself to a hexagonal pattern, but on CO adsorption this reconstruction is lifted [306] CO adsorption on Pd( 110) reconstructs the surface to a missing-row pattern [309]. These reconstructions are reversible and as a result, oscillatory behavior can be observed. Returning to the Pt(lOO) case, as CO is adsorbed patches of the simple 1 x 1 structure (the structure of an undistorted (100) face) form. Oxygen adsorbs on any bare 1 x 1 spots, reacts with adjacent CO to remove it as CO2, and at a certain point, the surface reverts to toe hexagonal stmcture. The presumed sequence of events is shown in Fig. XVIII-28. 

Chemisorption occurs when the attractive potential well is large so that upon adsorption a strong chemical bond to a surface is fonued. Chemisorption involves changes to both the molecule and surface electronic states. For example, when oxygen adsorbs onto a metal surface, a partially ionic bond is created as charge transfers from the substrate to the oxygen atom. Other chemisorbed species interact in a more covalent maimer by sharing electrons, but this still involves perturbations to the electronic system. 

Figure A3.10.23 Schematic diagram of molecular CO chemisorption on a metal surface. The model is based on a donor-acceptor scheme where the CO 5 a FIOMO donates charge to surface unoccupied states and the surface back-donates charge to the CO 2 71 LUMO [58].

The saturation coverage during chemisorption on a clean transition-metal surface is controlled by the fonnation of a chemical bond at a specific site [5] and not necessarily by the area of the molecule. In addition, in this case, the heat of chemisorption of the first monolayer is substantially higher than for the second and subsequent layers where adsorption is via weaker van der Waals interactions. Chemisorption is often usefLil for measuring the area of a specific component of a multi-component surface, for example, the area of small metal particles adsorbed onto a high-surface-area support [6], but not for measuring the total area of the sample. Surface areas measured using this method are specific to the molecule that chemisorbs on the surface. Carbon monoxide titration is therefore often used to define the number of sites available on a supported metal catalyst. In order to measure the total surface area, adsorbates must be selected that interact relatively weakly with the substrate so that the area occupied by each adsorbent is dominated by intennolecular interactions and the area occupied by each molecule is approximately defined by van der Waals radii. This... 

Our intention is to give a brief survey of advanced theoretical methods used to detennine the electronic and geometric stmcture of solids and surfaces. The electronic stmcture encompasses the energies and wavefunctions (and other properties derived from them) of the electronic states in solids, while the geometric stmcture refers to the equilibrium atomic positions. Quantities that can be derived from the electronic stmcture calculations include the electronic (electron energies, charge densities), vibrational (phonon spectra), stmctiiral (lattice constants, equilibrium stmctiires), mechanical (bulk moduli, elastic constants) and optical (absorption, transmission) properties of crystals. We will also report on teclmiques used to study solid surfaces, with particular examples drawn from chemisorption on transition metal surfaces. 

In the final section, we will survey the different theoretical approaches for the treatment of adsorbed molecules on surfaces, taking the chemisorption on transition metal surfaces, a particularly difficult to treat yet extremely relevant surface problem [1], as an example. Wliile solid state approaches such as DFT are often used, hybrid methods are also advantageous. Of particular importance in this area is the idea of embedding, where a small cluster of surface atoms around the adsorbate is treated with more care than the surroundmg region. The advantages and disadvantages of the approaches are discussed. 

NakatsujI H 1987 Dipped adcluster model for chemisorptions and catalytic reactions on metal surface J. Chem. Phys. 87 4995-5001... 

NakatsujI H, Nakal H and Fukunishi Y 1991 Dipped adcluster model for chemisorptions and catalytic reactions on a metal surface Image force correction and applications to Pd-02 adclusters J. Chem. Phys. 95 640-7 NakatsujI H and Nakal H 1992 Dipped adcluster model study for the end-on chemisorption of O2 on an Ag surface Can. J. Chem. 70 404-8... 

NakatsujI H, Kuwano R, Merita H and Nakal H 1993 Dipped adcluster model and SAC-CI method applied to harpooning, chemical luminescence and electron emission in halogen chemisorption on alkali metal surface J. Mol. Catal. 82 211-28... 

Whitten J L and Pakkanen T A 1980 Chemisorption theory for metallic surfaces Electron localization and the description of surface interactions Phys. Rev. B 21 4357-67... 

Whitten J L and Yang H 1996 Theory of chemisorption and reactions on metal surfaces Surf. Sc/. Rep. 24 59-124... 

H] Asscher M, Haase G and Kosloff R 1990 Tunneling mechanism for the dissociative chemisorption of Nj on metal surfaces Vacuum 41 269... 

F1 NMR of chemisorbed hydrogen can also be used for the study of alloys. For example, in mixed Pt-Pd nanoparticles in NaY zeolite comparaison of the results of hydrogen chemisorption and F1 NMR with the formation energy of the alloy indicates that the alloy with platinum concentration of 40% has the most stable metal-metal bonds. The highest stability of the particles and a lowest reactivity of the metal surface are due to a strong alloying effect. 

In this article, we will discuss the use of physical adsorption to determine the total surface areas of finely divided powders or solids, e.g., clay, carbon black, silica, inorganic pigments, polymers, alumina, and so forth. The use of chemisorption is confined to the measurements of metal surface areas of finely divided metals, such as powders, evaporated metal films, and those found in supported metal catalysts. 

Regardless of the exact extent (shorter or longer range) of the interaction of each alkali adatom on a metal surface, there is one important feature of Fig 2.6 which has not attracted attention in the past. This feature is depicted in Fig. 2.6c, obtained by crossploting the data in ref. 26 which shows that the activation energy of desorption, Ed, of the alkali atoms decreases linearly with decreasing work function . For non-activated adsorption this implies a linear decrease in the heat of chemisorption of the alkali atoms AHad (=Ed) with decreasing > ... 

Table 2.1. Dissociative (D) and molecular (M) chemisorption of CO on metal surfaces.

The molecular chemisorption of CO on various alkali-modified metal surfaces has been studied extensively in the literature. It is well established that alkali modification of the metal surface enhances both the strength of molecular chemisorption and the tendency towards dissociative chemisorption. This effect can be attributed to the strongly electropositive character of the alkali, which results in donation of electron density from the alkali to the metal and then to the adsorbed CO, via increased backdonation into the... 

The last point is confirmed by measuring the work function changes upon CO chemisorption on clean and alkali-promoted metal surfaces. Figures 2.16 and 2.17 show the work function changes induced by CO adsorption on a K/Pt(lll) and on a Na/Ru(1010) surface respectively, for various alkali... 

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