Adsorption of crotonaldehyde on metal surfaces: Cu vs Pt

The thermal chemistry of crotonaldehyde on the surface of a polished polycrystalline copper disk was characterized by temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) and reflection-absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS) and contrasted with previous data obtained on a Pt(111) single crystal substrate. A clear difference in the adsorption mode was identified between the two surfaces, highlighted by the prevalence of RAIRS peaks for the C=C bond on Cu vs for C=O on Pt. Adsorption was also determined to be much weaker on Cu vs Pt, with an adsorption energy on the former ranging from -50 kJ/mol to -65 kJ/mol depending on the surface coverage. The experimental data were complemented by extensive quantum mechanics calculations using density functional theory (DFT) to determine the most stable adsorption configurations on both metals. It was established that crotonaldehyde adsorption on Cu occurs via the oxygen atom in the carbonyl group, in a mono-coordinated fashion, whereas on Pt multi-coordination is preferred, centered around the C=C bond. The contrasting surface adsorption modes seen on these two metals are discussed in terms of the possible relevance to selectivity in single-atom alloy hydrogenation catalysis.