Water dissociation on Cu (111): Effects of molecular orientation, rotation, and vibration on reactivity

Computational approaches to dissociative chemisorption on metals: towards chemical accuracy

We review the state-of-the-art in the theory of dissociative chemisorption (DC) of small gas phase molecules on metal surfaces, which is important to modeling heterogeneous catalysis for practical reasons, and for achieving an understanding of the wealth of experimental information that exists for this topic, for fundamental reasons. We first give a quick overview of the experimental state of the field. Turning to the theory, we address the challenge that barrier heights (E_b, which are not observables) for DC on metals cannot yet be calculated with chemical accuracy, although embedded correlated wave function theory and diffusion Monte-Carlo are moving in this direction. For benchmarking, at present chemically accurate E_b can only be derived from dynamics calculations based on a semi-empirically derived density functional (DF), by computing a sticking curve and demonstrating that it is shifted from the curve measured in a supersonic beam experiment by no more than 1 kcal mol^-1. The approach capable of delivering this accuracy is called the specific reaction parameter (SRP) approach to density functional theory (DFT). SRP-DFT relies on DFT and on dynamics calculations, which are most efficiently performed if a potential energy surface (PES) is available. We therefore present a brief review of the DFs that now exist, also considering their performance on databases for E_b for gas phase reactions and DC on metals, and for adsorption to metals. We also consider expressions for SRP-DFs and briefly discuss other electronic structure methods that have addressed the interaction of molecules with metal surfaces. An overview is presented of dynamical models, which make a distinction as to whether or not, and which dissipative channels are modeled, the dissipative channels being surface phonons and electronically non-adiabatic channels such as electron-hole pair excitation. We also discuss the dynamical methods that have been used, such as the quasi-classical trajectory method and quantum dynamical methods like the time-dependent wave packet method and the reaction path Hamiltonian method. Limits on the accuracy of these methods are discussed for DC of diatomic and polyatomic molecules on metal surfaces, paying particular attention to reduced dimensionality approximations that still have to be invoked in wave packet calculations on polyatomic molecules like CH₄. We also address the accuracy of fitting methods, such as recent machine learning methods (like neural network methods) and the corrugation reducing procedure. In discussing the calculation of observables we emphasize the importance of modeling the properties of the supersonic beams in simulating the sticking probability curves measured in the associated experiments. We show that chemically accurate barrier heights have now been extracted for DC in 11 molecule-metal surface systems, some of which form the most accurate core of the only existing database of E_b for DC reactions on metal surfaces (SBH10). The SRP-DFs (or candidate SRP-DFs) that have been derived show transferability in many cases, i.e., they have been shown also to yield chemically accurate E_b for chemically related systems. This can in principle be exploited in simulating rates of catalyzed reactions on nano-particles containing facets and edges, as SRP-DFs may be transferable among systems in which a molecule dissociates on low index and stepped surfaces of the same metal. In many instances SRP-DFs have allowed important conclusions regarding the mechanisms underlying observed experimental trends. An important recent observation is that SRP-DFT based on semi-local exchange DFs has so far only been successful for systems for which the difference of the metal work function and the molecule's electron affinity exceeds 7 eV. A main challenge to SRP-DFT is to extend its applicability to the other systems, which involve a range of important DC reactions of e.g. O₂, H₂O, NH₃, CO₂, and CH₃OH. Recent calculations employing a PES based on a screened hybrid exchange functional suggest that the road to success may be based on using exchange functionals of this category.

Physisorbed State Regulates the Dissociation Mechanism of H2O on Ni(100)

Water dissociation is a key step in many industrial catalytic processes. The dissociation of H₂O on a rigid Ni(100) surface was investigated by the quantum instanton method with a full-dimensional potential energy surface. The calculated free-energy barrier maps showed that the free-energy barrier varied dramatically with the surface site. The free-energy well map demonstrated that the physisorption well of H₂O was existent at all of the surface sites, and H₂O could be dissociated by both the direct and steady-state processes. The calculated direct dissociation rate constants at different surface sites decreased rapidly in the order transition state (TS) > bridge > top > hollow. The steady-state dissociation rate constants had the same trend as that of the direct process but the steady-state dissociation rate constant at the top site became the largest at high temperatures. The direct dissociation rate constants were always larger than those of the steady-state process at a given temperature. The calculated kinetic isotope effects for the direct and steady-state processes were extremely large at low temperatures, which was caused by the zero-point energy correction and remarkable quantum tunneling. From low temperature to high temperature, H₂O would undergo stable molecular adsorption at the top site, steady-state dissociation at the TS site, direct rupture at the TS site, and direct decomposition at the impact site.

Water dissociating on rigid Ni(100): A quantum dynamics study on a full-dimensional potential energy surface

We constructed a nine-dimensional (9D) potential energy surface (PES) for the dissociative chemisorption of H₂O on a rigid Ni(100) surface using the neural network method based on roughly 110 000 energies obtained from extensive density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The resulting PES is accurate and smooth, based on the small fitting errors and the good agreement between the fitted PES and the direct DFT calculations. Time dependent wave packet calculations also showed that the PES is very well converged with respect to the fitting procedure. The dissociation probabilities of H₂O initially in the ground rovibrational state from 9D quantum dynamics calculations are quite different from the site-specific results from the seven-dimensional (7D) calculations, indicating the importance of full-dimensional quantum dynamics to quantitatively characterize this gas-surface reaction. It is found that the validity of the site-averaging approximation with exact potential holds well, where the site-averaging dissociation probability over 15 fixed impact sites obtained from 7D quantum dynamics calculations can accurately approximate the 9D dissociation probability for H₂O in the ground rovibrational state.

Rotational and steric effects in water dissociative chemisorption on Ni(111)

Powerful laser techniques have recently enabled quantum-state resolved molecular beam experiments for investigating gas-surface reactions, which have unveiled intriguing vibrational, rotational, and also steric effects. For reactions involving polyatomic molecules, e.g., the dissociative chemisorption of methane and water, the rotational and related steric effects are far less understood despite a large body of theoretical work having been able to reproduce the observed vibrational mode specificity and related bond selectivity semi-quantitatively or even within chemical accuracy. Herein, we report a high dimensional quantum dynamics study of water dissociation on Ni(111) on a first-principles potential energy surface, focusing on the reactivities of D2O in various rotational quantum states with different spatial orientations. Through an accurate quantum mechanical description of this asymmetric top, remarkable dependence of the reactivity on the orientation is observed. This dependence is site specific and rotational state specific. These single site rotational and steric effects are partially justified by a sudden model on the basis of the overlap between the rotational wavefunctions and the angular potential near the transition state, but rotational steering also plays a significant role which complicates the dynamics. Although site averaging weakens the influence of initial rotational excitations and leads to minor effects to the reactivity, steric effects are predicted to be observable if the water molecule is selectively excited and aligned by a linearly polarized laser.

An approximate full-dimensional quantum dynamics study of the mode specificity in the dissociative chemisorption of D2O on rigid Cu(111)

The approximate 9D dissociation probabilities for D₂O/Cu(111) are obtained to investigate the influence of mode specificity on reaction dynamics.

First-principles quantum dynamical theory for the dissociative chemisorption of H2O on rigid Cu(111)

Despite significant progress made in the past decades, it remains extremely challenging to investigate the dissociative chemisorption dynamics of molecular species on surfaces at a full-dimensional quantum mechanical level, in particular for polyatomic-surface reactions. Here we report, to the best of our knowledge, the first full-dimensional quantum dynamics study for the dissociative chemisorption of H2O on rigid Cu(111) with all the nine molecular degrees of freedom fully coupled, based on an accurate full-dimensional potential energy surface. The full-dimensional quantum mechanical reactivity provides the dynamics features with the highest accuracy, revealing that the excitations in vibrational modes of H2O are more efficacious than increasing the translational energy in promoting the reaction. The enhancement of the excitation in asymmetric stretch is the largest, but that of symmetric stretch becomes comparable at very low energies. The full-dimensional characterization also allows the investigation of the validity of previous reduced-dimensional and approximate dynamical models.

A seven-dimensional quantum dynamics study of the dissociative chemisorption of H2O on Cu(111): effects of azimuthal angles and azimuthal angle-averaging

We report the first seven-dimensional quantum dynamics study for the dissociative chemisorption of H2O on Cu(111) using the time-dependent wave-packet approach, based on an accurate nine-dimensional potential energy surface (PES), which is newly developed by neural network fitting to ∼80 000 density functional theory points. This seven-dimensional quantum model allows the examination of the influence of azimuthal angles and also the investigation of the quantitative relationship between the seven-dimensional (7D) dissociation probabilities and those results calculated by the six-dimensional (6D) model with the flat surface approximation. The reactivity strongly depends on the azimuthal rotations due to different barrier heights. Very large differences are seen between the 7D dissociation probabilities and the 6D results with fixed azimuthal angles, at different fixed sites of impact, indicating that the 6D model by neglecting the azimuthal rotation can introduce substantial errors in calculating dissociation probabilities and the 7D quantum dynamics is essential to investigate the dissociation process. A new azimuthal angle-averaging approach is proposed that the 7D dissociation probability can be well reproduced by averaging 6D results over 18 azimuthal angles, in particular in low kinetic energy regions.

Mode specificity for the dissociative chemisorption of H2O on Cu(111): a quantum dynamics study on an accurately fitted potential energy surface

The mode-specific dynamics for the dissociative chemisorption of H₂O on Cu(111) is first investigated by seven-dimensional quantum dynamics calculations, based on an accurately fitted potential energy surface (PES) recently developed by neural network fitting to DFT energy points.

Quantum dynamics of polyatomic dissociative chemisorption on transition metal surfaces: mode specificity and bond selectivity

Recent advances in quantum dynamical characterization of polyatomic dissociative chemisorption on accurate global potential energy surfaces are critically reviewed.

Mode specificity of the dissociative chemisorption of HOD on rigid Cu(111): an approximate full-dimensional quantum dynamics study

The approximate 9D dissociation probabilities for HOD/Cu(111) are obtained to investigate the influence of the mode specificity on reaction dynamics.

Vibrationally promoted dissociation of water on Ni(111)

Water dissociation on transition-metal catalysts is an important step in steam reforming and the water-gas shift reaction. To probe the effect of translational and vibrational activation on this important heterogeneous reaction, we performed state-resolved gas/surface reactivity measurements for the dissociative chemisorption of D2O on Ni(111), using molecular beam techniques. The reaction occurs via a direct pathway, because both the translational and vibrational energies promote the dissociation. The experimentally measured initial sticking probabilities were used to calibrate a first-principles potential energy surface based on density functional theory. Quantum dynamical calculations on the scaled potential energy surface reproduced the experimental results semiquantitatively. The larger increase of the dissociation probability by vibrational excitation than by translation per unit of energy is consistent with a late barrier along the O-D stretch reaction coordinate.