Tunability of the CO adsorption energy on a Ni/Cu surface: site change and coverage effects

Authors

Erik Vesselli, University of Trieste, IOM-CNR Laboratorio TASC
Michele Rizzi, University of Trieste
Sara Furlan, University of Trieste
Xiangmei Duan, Ningbo University
Enrico Monachino, University of TriesteFollow
Carlo Dri, University of Trieste, IOM-CNR Laboratorio TASC
Angelo Peronio, University of Trieste, IOM-CNR Laboratorio TASC
Cristina Africh, IOM-CNR Laboratorio TASC
Paolo Lacovig, Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste
Alfonso Baldereschi, University of Trieste, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne
Giovanni Comelli, University of Trieste, IOM-CNR Laboratorio TASC
Maria Peressi, University of Trieste, Italy and Italian Consortium on Materials Science and Technology

RIS ID

115023

Publication Details

Vesselli, E., Rizzi, M., Furlan, S., Duan, X., Monachino, E., Dri, C., Peronio, A., Africh, C., Lacovig, P., Baldereschi, A., Comelli, G. & Peressi, M. (2017). Tunability of the CO adsorption energy on a Ni/Cu surface: site change and coverage effects. Journal of Chemical Physics, 146 (22), 224707-1-224707-8.

Abstract

The adsorption energy of carbon monoxide on Ni ad-islands and ultra-thin films grown on the Cu(110) surface can be finely tuned via a complex interplay among diffusion, site change mechanisms, and coverage effects. The observed features of CO desorption can be explained in terms of migration of CO molecules from Cu to Ni islands, competition between bridge and on-top adsorption sites, and repulsive lateral adsorbate-adsorbate interactions. While the CO adsorption energy on clean Cu(110) is of the order of 0.5 eV, Ni-alloying allows for its controlled, continuous tunability in the 0.98-1.15 eV range with Ni coverage. Since CO is a fundamental reactant and intermediate in many heterogeneous catalytic (electro)-conversion reactions, insight into these aspects with atomic level detail provides useful information to potentially drive applicative developments. The tunability range of the CO adsorption energy that we measure is compatible with the already observed tuning of conversion rates by Ni doping of Cu single crystal catalysts for methanol synthesis from a CO₂, CO, and H₂ stream under ambient pressure conditions.