The adsorption of atomic nitrogen on Ru(0001): geometry and energetics

STM Visualization of N2 Dissociative Chemisorption on Ru(0001) at High Impinging Kinetic Energies

This paper examines the reactive surface dynamics of energy- and angle-selected N₂ dissociation on a clean Ru(0001) surface. Presented herein are the first STM images of highly energetic N₂ dissociation on terrace sites utilizing a novel UHV instrument that combines a supersonic molecular beam with an in situ STM that is in-line with the molecular beam. Atomically resolved visualization of individual N₂ dissociation events elucidates the fundamental reactive dynamics of the N₂/Ru(0001) system by providing a detailed understanding of the on-surface dissociation dynamics: the distance and angle between nitrogen atoms from the same dissociated N₂ molecule, site specificity and coordination of binding on terrace sites, and the local evolution of surrounding nanoscopic areas. These properties are precisely measured over a range of impinging N₂ kinetic energies and angles, revealing previously unattainable information about the energy dissipation channels that govern the reactivity of the system. The experimental results presented in this paper provide insight into the fundamental N₂ dissociation mechanism that, in conjunction with ongoing theoretical modeling, will help determine the role of dynamical processes such as energy transfer to surface phonons and nonadiabatic excitation of electron-hole pairs (ehps). These results will not only help uncover the underlying chemistry and physics that give rise to the unique behavior of this activated dissociative chemisorption system but also represent an exciting approach to studying reaction dynamics by pairing the angstrom-level spatiotemporal resolution of an in situ STM with nonequilibrium fluxes of reactive gases generated in a supersonic molecular beam to access highly activated chemical dynamics and observe the results of individual reaction events.

A comparative analysis of the mechanisms of ammonia synthesis on various catalysts using density functional theory

In this review, we present the recent progress in ammonia synthesis research using density functional theory (DFT) calculations on various industrial catalysts, metal nitrides and nano-cluster-supported catalysts. The mechanism of ammonia synthesis on the industrial Fe catalyst is generally accepted to be a dissociative mechanism. We have recently found, using DFT techniques, that on Co₃Mo₃N (111) surfaces, an associative mechanism in the synthesis of ammonia can offer a new low-energy pathway that was previously unknown. In particular, we have shown that metal nitrides that are also known to have high activity for ammonia synthesis can readily form nitrogen vacancies which can activate dinitrogen, thereby promoting the associative mechanism. These fundamental studies suggest that a promising route to the discovery of low-temperature ammonia synthesis catalysts will be to identify systems that proceed via the associative mechanism, which is closer to the nitrogen-fixation mechanism occurring in nitrogenases.

Design of a High-Performance Electrocatalyst for N2 Conversion to NH3 by Trapping Single Metal Atoms on Stepped CeO2

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) have recently been shown to have high performance in catalyzing the synthesis of NH₃ from N₂. Here, we systematically investigated a series of single transition metal atoms anchored on stepped CeO₂ (CeO₂-S) to screen the potential electrocatalysts for a N₂ reduction reaction (NRR) via density functional theory computations. We first demonstrated that these SACs are stable via large calculated binding energies. Second, we evaluated the adsorption of *N₂ over CeO₂-S-supported single atoms. Here, those systems that can activate N₂ molecules were selected as candidates. We then showed that CeO₂-S-supported single Mo and Ru atoms have high catalytic activity for NRR via low limiting potentials of -0.52 and -0.35 V, respectively. Meanwhile, the competitive hydrogen evolution reaction is highly suppressed over these two SACs because the adsorption of *N₂ is prior to *H. Finally, the origin of the NRR activity over these SACs was investigated. This work offers useful insights into designing high-performance CeO₂-based electrocatalysts for NRR.

Tailoring widely used ammonia synthesis catalysts for H and N poisoning resistance

Despite many advancements, an inexpensive ammonia synthesis catalyst free from hydrogen and nitrogen poisoning, and capable of synthesizing ammonia under mild conditions is still unknown and is long sought-after. Here we present an active nanoalloy catalyst, RuFe, formed by alloying highly active Ru and inexpensive Fe, capable of activating both N2 and H2 without blocking the surface active sites and thereby overcoming the major hurdle faced by the current best performing pure metal catalysts. This novel RuFe nanoalloy catalyst operates under milder conditions than the conventional Fe catalyst and is less expensive than the so far best performing Ru-based catalysts providing additional advantages. Most importantly, by integrating theory and experiments, we identified the underlying mechanisms responsible for lower surface poisoning of this catalyst, which will provide directions for fabricating poison-free efficient NH3 synthesis catalysts in future.

Activity, Selectivity, and Durability of Ruthenium Nanoparticle Catalysts for Ammonia Synthesis by Reactive Molecular Dynamics Simulation: The Size Effect

We report a molecular dynamics (MD) simulation employing the reactive force field (ReaxFF), developed from various first-principles calculations in this study, on ammonia (NH₃) synthesis from nitrogen (N₂) and hydrogen (H₂) gases over Ru nanoparticle (NP) catalysts. Using ReaxFF-MD simulations, we predict not only the activities and selectivities but also the durabilities of the nanocatalysts and discuss the size effect and process conditions (temperature and pressure). Among the NPs (diameter = 3, 4, 5, and 10 nm) considered in this study, the 4 nm NPs show the highest activity, in contrast to our intuition that the smallest NP should provide the highest activity, as it has the highest surface area. In addition, the best selectivity is observed with the 10 nm NPs. The activity and selectivity are mainly determined by the hcp, fcc, and top sites on the Ru NP surface, which depend on the NP size. Moreover, the selectivity can be improved more significantly by increasing the H₂ pressure than by increasing the N₂ pressure. The durability of the NPs can be determined by the mean stress and the stress concentration, and these two factors have a trade-off relationship with the NP size. In other words, as the NP size increases, its mean stress decreases, whereas the stress concentration simultaneously increases. Because of these two effects, the best durability is found with the 5 nm NPs, which is also in contrast to our intuition that larger NPs should show better durability. We expect that ReaxFF-MD simulations, along with first-principles calculations, could be a useful tool in developing novel catalysts and understanding catalytic reactions.

Accurate Neural Network Description of Surface Phonons in Reactive Gas-Surface Dynamics: N2 + Ru(0001)

Ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations enable the accurate description of reactive molecule-surface scattering especially if energy transfer involving surface phonons is important. However, presently, the computational expense of AIMD rules out its application to systems where reaction probabilities are smaller than about 1%. Here we show that this problem can be overcome by a high-dimensional neural network fit of the molecule-surface interaction potential, which also incorporates the dependence on phonons by taking into account all degrees of freedom of the surface explicitly. As shown for N₂ + Ru(0001), which is a prototypical case for highly activated dissociative chemisorption, the method allows an accurate description of the coupling of molecular and surface atom motion and accurately accounts for vibrational properties of the employed slab model of Ru(0001). The neural network potential allows reaction probabilities as low as 10^-5 to be computed, showing good agreement with experimental results.

Eley-rideal reactions with N atoms at Ru(0001): formation of NO and N(2)

Forward-directed NO molecules with large translational energies are formed upon exposure of an O-covered Ru(0001) surface to a nitrogen (N+N_{2}) beam. This is an unequivocal experimental demonstration of the Eley-Rideal reaction for a "heavy" (i.e., nonhydrogenated) neutral system. The time dependence of prompt NO formation exhibits an exceptionally fast decay as a consequence of shifting reaction pathways and probabilities over the course of the exposure. Prompt production shuts down as the O coverage decreases due to competition from more favorable Eley-Rideal production of N_{2}.

Surface morphology of atomic nitrogen on Pt(111)

The surface morphology of chemisorbed N on the Pt(111) surface has been studied at the atomic level with low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). When N is coadsorbed with O on the surface, they form a mixed (2 × 2)-N+O structure. When the surface is covered with N atoms only, isolated atoms and incomplete (2 × 2) patches are observed at low coverages. In a dense N layer, two phases, (√3 × √3)R30°-N and p(2 × 2)-N, are found to coexist at temperatures between 360 and 400 K. The (√3 × √3)R30° phase converts to the (2 × 2) phase as temperature increases. For both phases, nitrogen occupies fcc-hollow sites. At temperatures above 420 K, nitrogen starts to desorb. The p(2 × 2)-N phase shows a honeycomb structure in STM images with three nitrogen and three platinum atoms forming a six-membered ring, which can be attributed to the strong nitrogen binding to the underlying Pt surface.

Active Sites at Finite Coverages – an STM Investigation of the Dissociation of NO on Ru(0001)

We have investigated the role of active sites on a partially adsorbate covered surface. The decomposition of NO molecules on a Ru surface served as model reaction. Experiments were performed in an ultra-high vacuum chamber, by dosing NO on a Ru(0001) single crystal surface at 300 K. The distributions of N and O atoms resulting from the NO decomposition were investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy. We find massive changes compared to the zero-coverage limit that has been studied before. Whereas atomic steps are active sites for the decomposition of the NO molecules at low coverages, the flat terraces also become active at higher coverages. Mobile O atoms on the terraces, formed by the initial dissociation of the NO molecules, are responsible for this effect. Furthermore, narrow terraces fill with N and O atoms at a higher rate than wide terraces, also contrasting the low coverage result. The effect can be understood by the blocked surface diffusion of NO precursors to the steps by N atoms accumulating at the steps. On the approximately half covered surface striking mesoscopic concentration patterns are observed, connected with a demixing of the N and O atoms. Here two effects contribute, the different surface diffusion rates of N and O atoms away from the steps, and the different interactions between the two types of atoms. At saturation NO forms a molecular state, with one NO molecule per unit cell of the (2×2) mixed structure of N and O atoms.

Importance of Electronegativity Differences and Surface Structure in Molecular Dissociation Reactions at Transition Metal Surfaces

The dissociative adsorption of N2 has been studied at both monatomic steps and flat regions on the surfaces of the 4d transition metals from Zr to Pd. Using density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we have determined and analyzed the trends in both straight reactivity and structure sensitivity across the periodic table. With regards to reactivity, we find that the trend in activation energy (Ea) is determined mainly by a charge transfer from the surface metal atoms to the N atoms during transition state formation, namely, the degree of ionicity of the N-surface bond at the transition state. Indeed, we find that the strength of the metal-N bond at the transition state (and therefore the trend in Ea) can be predicted by the difference in Mulliken electronegativity between the metal and N. Structure sensitivity is analyzed in terms of geometric and electronic effects. We find that the lowering of Ea due to steps is more pronounced on the right-hand side of the periodic table. It is found that for the early transition metals the geometric and electronic effects work in opposition when going from terrace to step active site. In the case of the late 4d metals, however, these effects work in combination, producing a more marked reduction in Ea.

Comparative study of cluster- and supercell-approaches for investigating heterogeneous catalysis by electronic structure methods: Tunneling in the reaction N + H → NH on Ru(0001)

Different ruthenium clusters of various sizes are constructed with the aim to model the Ru(0001) surface with a sufficient accuracy for predicting catalysis by hybrid density functional methods (B3LYP). As an example reaction the hydrogenation step N(ads) + H(ads) --> NH(ads) from the catalytic production cycle of ammonia is chosen. A cluster of 12 ruthenium atoms is found to reproduce experimental geometries and frequencies of the various reactants on the surface satisfyingly. To get the geometries of adsorbed hydrogen qualitatively correct it is shown that second layer atoms have to be included in the model cluster. Boundary effects are believed to have minor effects on optimized geometries, whereas the effects on reaction barriers are significant. A comparison of model cluster calculations to a periodic supercell approach employing plane waves and density functional methods (RPBE) reveals similar barriers for reaction. The influence of tunneling in this reaction is determined by the small curvature tunneling approach on the electronic surfaces.

The importance of tunneling in the first hydrogenation step in ammonia synthesis over a Ru(0001) surface

The hydrogenation of nitrogen (N(ads)+H(ads)-->NH(ads)) on metal surfaces is an important step in ammonia catalysis. We investigate the reaction dynamics of this hydrogenation step by time independent scattering theory and variational transition state theory (VTST) including tunneling corrections. The potential energy surface is derived by hybrid density functional theory on a model cluster composed of 12 ruthenium atoms resembling a Ru(0001) surface. The scattering calculations are performed on a reduced dimensionality potential energy hypersurface, where two dimensions are treated explicitly and all others are included implicitly by the zero-point correction. The VTST calculations include quantum effects along the reaction coordinate by applying the small curvature tunneling scheme. Even at room temperature (where ruthenium already shows catalytic activity) we find rate enhancement by tunneling by a factor of approximately 70. Inspection of the reaction probabilities shows that the major contribution to reactivity comes from the vibrational ground state of the reactants into vibrationally excited product states. The reaction rates are higher than determined in previous studies, and are compatible with experimental overall rates for ammonia synthesis.

Dynamics of high-barrier surface reactions: laser-assisted associative desorption of N2 from Ru(0001)

We have determined the dynamics and energetics of associative desorption of N2 from Ru(0001) using both an experimental technique, laser-assisted associative desorption, and density functional calculations. These show that N2 is preferentially desorbed into very high vibrational states and that the barriers between gas phase N2 and adsorbed N atoms increase from 2 to >3 eV with increasing N coverage on the surface. This experimental technique is found to be quite insensitive to low barrier steps and defects which complicate interpretations from other methods of studying high-barrier surface reactions.