Size-Sensitive Dynamic Catalysis of Subnanometer Cu Clusters in CO₂ Dissociation

Small cluster catalysts are highly size-dependent and exhibit complex structural dynamic effects during catalytic reactions. Understanding their structural dynamics is of great importance in tuning the catalytic performances of small clusters that widely exist in supported catalysts. However, very little is known about the size dependence of the dynamic effect of small clusters. In this work, we systematically study the free energies and barriers of catalytic dissociation of CO₂ at different temperatures on dynamical Cu clusters with different sizes by ab initio molecular dynamics. The reaction shows an abnormal entropic effect on Cu clusters, and more interestingly, it shows size sensitivity. On the Cu₇ cluster, the entropy curve shows a reverse peak shape with increasing temperature, and it is surprising to find that it has a complex pulse shape on the Cu₁₉ cluster. The detailed analysis shows that such temperature dependences can be attributable to the nontrivial behaviors of adsorption-induced phase transitions of the subnanometer Cu clusters during the dissociation of CO₂. Our work not only demonstrates the complexity of the temperature dependence of the surface reaction on cluster sizes but also provides useful insight into the phase transition catalysis of dynamic clusters.