Interfacial properties of NM/CeO(2)(111) (NM = noble metal atoms or clusters of Pd, Pt and Rh): a first principles study.

Results from first principles calculations present a rather clear atomic and electronic level picture of the interaction of single noble metals (NM: Pd, Pt and Rh) and the corresponding NM(4) clusters with a CeO(2)(111) surface. The most preferable adsorption sites for both the Pd and Pt adatoms are the surface O-bridge sites, while the Rh adatom prefers to stay at the O-hollow site. The Rh adatom shows much stronger interaction with the CeO(2)(111) surface than the Pd and Pt adatoms do, while the Pd adatom has the smallest adsorption energy. The dependence of the Rh/ceria interfacial properties on the value of the Hubbard U-term was tested systematically. The small clusters show stronger interaction than the corresponding single NM adatoms on the CeO(2)(111) surface. The reaction of [Formula: see text] was found for both the single NM adatoms and the small cluster adsorbate, indicating that NM adsorbates were mainly oxidized by the surface Ce ions with obvious charge transfer from NM to the CeO(2)(111) surface. The three base atoms of the small clusters that bonded with the CeO(2)(111) surface showed positive charges, while the top metal atoms of the NM(4) clusters had a small negative charge.