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Catalytic reduction of NO2 with hydrogen on Pt field emitter tips: kinetic instabilities on the nanoscale
J-S McEwen1, P Gaspard, Y De Decker
1Centre for Nonlinear Phenomena and Complex Systems, Campus Plaine-CP 231, Université Libre de Bruxelles, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.
Abstract:
The catalytic reduction of NO(2) with hydrogen on a Pt field emitter tip is investigated using both field electron microscopy (FEM) and field ion microscopy (FIM). A rich variety of nonlinear behavior and unusually high catalytic activity around the {012} facets are observed. Our FEM investigations reveal that the correlation function exhibits damped oscillations with a decaying envelope, showing that molecular noise will influence the dynamics of the oscillations. The dependence of the oscillatory period on the P(H(2))/P(NO(2)) pressure ratios is analyzed. Similar patterns are reported under FIM conditions. Corresponding density functional theory (DFT) calculations for the adsorption of NO(2) on Pt{012} in the presence of an external electric field are performed in order to gain an atomistic understanding of the underlying nonlinear phenomena.
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