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NMR Studies of Simple Molecules Adsorbed on Metal Catalysts: Acetylene Decomposition on Pt
Author(s) -
Klug C.A.,
Slichter C.P.,
Sinfelt J.H.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
israel journal of chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.908
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1869-5868
pISSN - 0021-2148
DOI - 10.1002/ijch.199200026
Subject(s) - chemistry , acetylene , dehydrogenation , adsorption , decomposition , catalysis , carbon fibers , photochemistry , bond cleavage , molecule , metal , inorganic chemistry , organic chemistry , materials science , composite number , composite material
We present the results of an NMR investigation to study the decomposition of acetylene adsorbed on small Pt clusters similar to industrial catalysts. We begin by reviewing some of our earlier results where it was shown that acetylene converts primarily to vinylidene (CCH 2 ) upon room temperature adsorption. It was proposed that the vinylidene gradually dehydrogenates between 450 and 650 K leaving C 2 surface species whose carbon‐carbon bond breaks at about 670 K. In this work we have shown that ethylidyne (CCH 3 ) plays an important role in providing an alternate decomposition mechanism. In addition, although there is some evidence that CCH surface species are formed upon room temperature adsorption, no C 2 surface species were observed in our experiments. Therefore, although dehydrogenation prior to carbon‐carbon bond scission may occur, further experiments where the ethylidyne mechanism is eliminated are needed to completely unravel the decomposition mechanism.