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Energy Transfer Dynamics of Formate Decomposition on Cu(110)
Author(s) -
Quan Jiamei,
Kondo Takahiro,
Wang Guichang,
Nakamura Junji
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201611342
Subject(s) - formate , chemistry , decomposition , thermal decomposition , copper , catalysis , molecule , chemical physics , organic chemistry
Energy transfer dynamics of formate (HCOO a ) decomposition on a Cu(110) surface has been studied by measuring the angle‐resolved intensity and translational energy distributions of CO 2 emitted from the surface in a steady‐state reaction of HCOOH and O 2 . The angular distribution of CO 2 shows a sharp collimation with the direction perpendicular to the surface, as represented by cos n θ ( n= 6). The mean translational energy of CO 2 is measured to be as low as 100 meV and is independent of the surface temperature ( T s ). These results clearly indicate that the decomposition of formate is a thermal non‐equilibrium process in which a large amount of energy released by the decomposition reaction of formate is transformed into the internal energies of CO 2 molecules. The thermal non‐equilibrium features observed in the dynamics of formate decomposition support the proposed Eley–Rideal (ER)‐type mechanism for formate synthesis on copper catalysts.