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Updated: Jul 12, 2026

Multiscale Sampling of a Heterogeneous Water/Metal Catalyst Interface using Density Functional Theory and Force-Field Molecular Dynamics
Published on: April 12, 2019
Water formation reaction on Pt(111): role of the proton transfer
Masanari Nagasaka1, Hiroshi Kondoh, Toshiaki Ohta
1Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
Abstract:
The catalytic water formation reaction on Pt(111) was investigated by kinetic Monte Carlo simulations, where the interaction energy between reaction species and the high mobility of H(2)O molecule was considered. Results obtained clearly reproduce the scanning tunneling microscopy images which show that the reaction proceeds via traveling the reaction fronts on the O-covered Pt(111) surface by creating H(2)O islands backwards. The reaction front is a mixed layer of OH and H(2)O with a (square root 3 x square root 3)R30(o) structure. Coverage change during the reaction is also reproduced in which the reaction consists of three characteristic processes, as observed by the previous experiments. The simulation also revealed that the proton transfer from H(2)O to OH plays an important role to propagate the water formation.
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