A dimer path for CO dissociation on PtSn
Journal article, 2019
Density functional theory calculations are used to investigate CO adsorption, dissociation and SnOX formation on Pt3Sn. We find that direct CO dissociation is prevented by high activation energies. An energetically feasible path is instead CO dimer formation followed by C-O bond cleavage. Dimers are formed in the presence of Sn adatoms which effectively stabilize anionic OCCO- species. The presence of Sn adatoms is crucial as dimers are unstable on Pt-only systems. The proposed mechanism may explain recent experimental observations of SnOX and C-C formation as PtxSn is exposed to CO.
CO adsorption
C-O bond cleavageCO adsorptionCO dissociationsDimer formationExposed toHigh activation energy
Dimer formation
C-O bond cleavage
Dissociation
Activation energy
Adatoms
Chemical bonds
Dyes
CO dissociation
Exposed to
Density functional theory