Toward better understanding of the support effect: Test cases for CO dissociation on Fen/TiO

by Abdesslem Jedidi, Saadullah G Aziz, Luigi Cavallo, Christian Minot
Year: 2017 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cplett.2017.06.031

Extra Information

Chemical Physics Letters.

Abstract

The Fischer-Tropsch reaction is initiated by direct CO dissociation for Iron catalyst even though a H-assisted mechanism may be easier on other metals. In the gas phase, the CO dissociation is only favorable for Fe-clusters composed by more than 11 atoms. We show here the remarkable effect of the support TiO2(1 1 0), making this dissociation exothermic for Fe4 and Fe5 clusters. The main factor for the CO activation is the electron transfer to the reducible support. The role of the TiO2(1 1 0) support is to transform the neutral cluster into a positively charged one for which CO dissociation is easier.


 

Keywords

Metallic clusters Phase transition Spin magnetic moment Iron