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Title: Potassium-induced effect on structure and chemical activity of CuxO/Cu(111) (x≤2) surface: A combined scanning tunneling microscopy and density functional theory study

Journal Article · · ChemCatChem
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [3]
  1. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
  2. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Shanghai Univ. of Engineering Science, Shanghai (China)
  3. Stony Brook Univ., Stony Brook, NY (United States)

Potassium (K) plays an essential role to promote catalytic reactions in many established industrial catalytic processes. Here in this paper, we report a combined study using STM and DFT to understand the effect of the deposition of K on the atomic and electronic structures as well as chemical activities of CuxO/Cu(111) (x≤2). The DFT calculations show a pseudomorphic growth of K on CuxO/Cu(111) up to 0.19 monolayer (ML) of coverage, in which K binds the surface by a strong ionic interaction with chemisorbed oxygen and relatively weak electrostatic interactions with Cu ions, the lower and upper oxygen atoms on the CuxO rings. The simulated STM pattern based on the DFT results agrees well with the experimental observations. The deposited K has a great impact on the surface electronic structure of CuxO/Cu(111), which induces a significant reduction in the work function and leads to a strong electron polarization on the surface. The promotion of K on the surface binding properties is selective and varies depending on the nature of the adsorbates. According to our results, K has little effect on surface acidity but it enhances the surface basicity significantly. Consequently, the presence of K does not help CO adsorption on CuxO/Cu(111) but is able to accelerate the activation of CO2. Such a promotion depends strongly on the combinations from both geometric and electronic effects. In conclusion, our results highlight the origin of the promoting effect of alkali metals in the design of catalysts for complex reactions.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC00112704; SC0012704; AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1224792
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1335403
Report Number(s):
BNL-108537-2015-JA; BNL-111845-2016-JA; R&D Project: CO-019; KC0302010
Journal Information:
ChemCatChem, Vol. 115, Issue 19; ISSN 1867-3880
Publisher:
ChemPubSoc EuropeCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 34 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (3)

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