How to simulate dissociative chemisorption of methane on metal surfaces

Abstract

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The dissociation of methane is not only an important reaction step in catalytic processes, but also of fundamental interest. Dynamical effects during the dissociative chemisorption of methane on metal surfaces cause significant differences in computed reaction rates, compared to what is predicted by typical transition state theory (TST) models. It is clear that for a good understanding of the catalytic activation of methane dynamical simulations are required. In this paper, a general blueprint is provided for performing dynamical simulations of the dissociative chemisorption of methane on metal surfaces, by employing either the quasi-classical trajectory or ring polymer molecular dynamics approach. If the computational setup is constructed with great care–since results can be affected considerably by the setup – chemically accurate predictions are achievable. Although this paper concerns methane dissociation, the provided blueprint is, so far, applicable to the dissociative chemisorption of most molecules.

Keywords

• heterogeneous catalysis
• density functional theory
• surface science
• dissociative chemisorption
• methane
• metal surfaces