CO Adsorption and Oxidation on Ceria Surfaces from DFT+U Calculations

Abstract

The limiting steps of CO oxidation catalyzed by ceria via the Mars−van Krevelen reaction mechanism are identified and investigated by means of density functional theory calculations that account for the on-site Coulomb interaction via a Hubbard term (DFT+U). We address the adsorption of CO on the (111) and (110) surfaces, and its oxidation via participation of lattice oxygen leading to vacancy formation and CO2 desorption. CO physisorbs on the (111) ceria surface (Ebind 2 eV) yielding carbonate formation and surface reduction. The DFT+U energy of CO adsorption and oxidation is studied as a function of the parameter U. This analysis demonstrates that the values of U presently used in the literature (U > 4 eV) tend to overestimate the binding energy of CO to ceria surfaces. In contrast, the energy for the complete CO oxidation reaction is effectively independent of U and in good agreement with the available experimental data. The discuss...