The Nature of the Dissociation Sites of Hydrogen Molecules on Ru(001)

Journal Article · Wed Mar 12 04:00:00 EDT 2008 · Journal of Physical Chemistry C

OSTI ID:927874

Salmeron, Miquel; Rose, Franck; Tartakhanov, Mous; Fomin, Evgeni; Salmeron, Miquel

Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) was used to study the dissociative adsorption of H{sub 2} on Ru(001) near saturation coverage, when the number of residual hydrogen vacancies (i.e., unoccupied Ru sites) is small. We found that H{sub 2} dissociation takes place only on Ru sites where the metal atom is not bound to any H atom. Such active sites are formed when at least 3 H-vacancies aggregate by thermal diffusion. Sites formed by single H-vacancies or pairs of adjoining vacancies were found to be unreactive toward H{sub 2}. As a similar phenomenon was found previously on Pd(111), the present results indicate that the active sites for H2 dissociation share a common characteristic among catalytically active transition metals.

• Research Organization: Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: Materials Sciences Division
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-05CH11231
• OSTI ID: 927874
• Report Number(s): LBNL-193E
• Journal Information: Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Journal Name: Journal of Physical Chemistry C Vol. 111
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ADSORPTION
ATOMS
DISSOCIATION
HYDROGEN
Ru(001)STM Active site Catalysis Dissociative adsorption Hydrogen
SATURATION
SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPY
THERMAL DIFFUSION
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
VACANCIES