Discovery of CO_2 precursor in the reaction of CO and O on Pt(111)

摘要

Using the technique of Cs~+ reactive ion scattering (Cs~+ RIS), we show that reaction of CO and O on a Pt(111) surface produces a CO_2 precurosr species that remains stable on the surface up to 300 K. The CO_2 species desorbs with an activation energy of 46+-3 kJ mol~(-1), whereas the direct CO_2 gas formation via Langmuir-Hinshelwood (LH) reaction between CO and O occurs with an activation energy of 75+-4 kJ mol~(-1). THe observation reveals a new pathway for CO oxidation reaction, which is different from the direct LH pathway.