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Updated: Jun 29, 2026

Multiscale Sampling of a Heterogeneous Water/Metal Catalyst Interface using Density Functional Theory and Force-Field Molecular Dynamics
Published on: April 12, 2019
Chemical composition and reactivity of water on hexagonal Pt-group metal surfaces
A Shavorskiy1, M J Gladys, G Held
1University of Reading, Department of Chemistry, Whiteknights, Reading, UK RG6 6AD.
Abstract:
The dissociation behaviour and valence-electronic structure of water adsorbed on clean and oxygen-covered Ru{0001}, Rh{111}, Pd{111}, Ir{111} and Pt{111} surfaces has been studied by high-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy with the aim of identifying similarities and trends within the Pt-group metals. On average, we find higher reactivity for the 4d metals (Ru, Rh, Pd) as compared to 5d (Ir, Pt), which is correlated with characteristic shifts in the 1b(1) and 3a(1) molecular orbitals of water. Small amounts of oxygen (< 0.2 ML) induce dissociation of water on all five surfaces, for higher coverages (> 0.25 ML) only intact water is observed. Under UHV conditions these higher coverages can only be reached on the 4d metals, the 5d metals are, therefore, not passivated.
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