Catalytic ignition on PdAu wires

Abstract

Davy's hot-wire method has been developed for PdAu wires and H2 in air, to find the relation between alloy composition and ignition temperature. The activation energy for the surface ignition reaction has been derived, on certain assumptions, and its relation to PdAu composition found to parallel that for the para-H2 conversion and H2+ D2 reactions. It has therefore been suggested that H2 activation is the critical step for surface ignition on the PdAu surface, expressible in general terms as Oad+H2→ H2O +□ where □ denotes on empty site on the wire surface.