Transferability of the Specific Reaction Parameter Density Functional for H2 + Pt(111) to H2 + Pt(211).

Abstract

The accurate description of heterogeneously catalyzed reactions may require chemically accurate evaluation of barriers for reactions of molecules at the edges of metal nanoparticles. It was recently shown that a semiempirical density functional describing the interaction of a molecule dissociating on a flat metal surface (CHD3 + Pt(111)) is transferable to the same molecule reacting on a stepped surface of the same metal (Pt(211)). However, validation of the method for additional systems is desirable. To address the question whether the specific reaction parameter (SRP) functional that describes H2 + Pt(111) with chemical accuracy is also capable of accurately describing H2 + Pt(211), we have performed molecular beam simulations with the quasi-classical trajectory (QCT) method, using the SRP functional developed for H2 + Pt(111). Our calculations used the Born–Oppenheimer static surface model. The accuracy of the QCT method was assessed by comparison with quantum dynamics results for reaction of the ro-vibrational ground state of H2. The theoretical results for sticking of H2 and D2 on Pt(211) are in quite good agreement with the experiment, but uncertainties remain because of a lack of accuracy of the QCT simulations at low incidence energies and possible inaccuracies in the reported experimental incidence energies at high energies. We also investigated the nonadiabatic effect of electron–hole pair excitation on the reactivity using the molecular dynamics with the electron friction (MDEF) method, employing the local density friction approximation (LDFA). Only small effects of electron–hole pair excitation on sticking are found.