Interactions of Hydrogen and Carbon Monoxide on Pd–Au Bimetallic Surfaces

Abstract

Pd–Au bimetallic catalysts have shown potential applications in numerous heterogeneous reactions in which hydrogen and CO act as reactants, intermediates, or products. A fundamental understanding of the interplay between coadsorbed H and CO on the Pd–Au surface is necessary for improving the understanding of catalytic performance. In this study, the interactions of hydrogen and CO with Pd/Au(111) model surfaces were investigated by temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) and molecular beam scattering (MBS) experiments, carried out under ultra-high-vacuum conditions. Our results reveal that CO adsorbs competitively on the hydrogen-precovered Pd–Au surface, causing surface H adatoms to diffuse away from stronger-binding sites (e.g., Pd(111)-like islands) to weaker-binding sites (e.g., Pd–Au alloy sites and subsurface), as evidenced by a shift of the H2 desorption feature to lower temperatures in TPD measurements. Additionally, evolution of H2 was observed when a CO molecular beam was impinged onto the H-pre...