Coverage dependent adsorption and co-adsorption of CO and H₂ on the CdI₂-antitype metallic Mo₂C(001) surface

The adsorption and co-adsorption of CO and H2 at different coverage on the CdI2-antitype metallic Mo2C(001) surface termination have been systematically computed at the level of periodic density functional theory. Only molecular CO adsorption is possible and the monolayer coverage (1 ML) can have 16CO adsorbed at the top sites. Dissociative H2 adsorption is favored thermodynamically and the monolayer coverage (1 ML) can have 16H adsorbed at the hollow sites. Since CO has much stronger adsorption energy than H2, pre-adsorption of CO is possible. CO pre-adsorption strongly affects atomic hydrogen co-adsorption at a high CO/H2 ratio, while hardly affects that at a low CO/H2 ratio. Under ultra-high vacuum conditions (200 K, 10(-12) atm and CO/H2 = 1/1), the most stable adsorbed surface state has CO/H2 = 15/1. Comparison among the metallic terminations of the CdI2-antitype Mo2C(001), eclipsed Mo2C(001) and orthorhombic Mo2C(100) surfaces shows their different CO and hydrogen adsorption as well as activation properties, which reveals that the CdI2-antitype Mo2C(001) surface is least active. These differences come from their surface bonding properties; the CdI2-antitype Mo2C(001) surface is saturated and less metallic, while the eclipsed Mo2C(001) and orthorhombic Mo2C(100) surfaces are unsaturated and more metallic.