| AVS 61st International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Surface Science | Monday Sessions |
| Session SS+AS+EN-MoM |
| Session: | Mechanistic Insights into Surface Reactions: Catalysis, ALD, etc. |
| Presenter: | Yifeng Song, University of Virginia |
| Authors: | Y. Song, University of Virginia I.A. Harrison, University of Virginia |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Kinetics of Alkyl Species on Pt(111)
Yifeng Song and Ian Harrison
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA 22904
A heated effusive molecular beam was used to dose hot alkanes on to a relatively cold Pt(111) surface to overcome the initial activation barrier for dissociative chemisorption and to trap reactive intermediate species on the surface for subsequent spectroscopic and kinetic studies. Both reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS) and temperature programmed reaction (TPR) techniques were employed, in a complimentary way, to investigate the kinetics of alkyl fragments. Particular attention was paid to methylidyne (-CH) decomposition kinetics, which have been proposed to be potentially rate-limiting in catalytic steam reforming of methane according to recent DFT calculations. Comparison between reforming kinetics of single crystal surfaces and nanocatalysts are made. Elementary steps including the cleavage and formation of C-H and C-C bonds within other C1, C2 and C3 reactive intermediates were also studied. The experimental findings, together with some theoretical work, provide molecularly resolved information relevant to catalytic reforming of light alkanes.