Cluster size effects on the adsorption of CO, O, and COand the dissociation of COon two-dimensional Cu(1, 3, and 7) clusters supported on Cu(111) surface: a density functional theory study.

In this study, we performed density functional theory based calculations to determine the effect of the size of Cu(= 1 (adatom), 3 (trimer), 7 (heptamer)) clusters supported on Cu(111) toward the adsorption of CO, O, and CO, and the dissociation of CO. CO adsorbs with comparable adsorption energies on the different cluster systems, which are influenced by the reactivity of the Cu atoms in the cluster and the interaction of CO with the Cu atoms in the terrace. The O atom, on the other hand, will always favor to adsorb on hollow sites and is more stable on the hollow sites of smaller clusters. COdissociates with lower activation energy on the cluster region than on flat Cu(111). We obtained the lowest activation energy on Cudue to its more reactive Cu atoms than the Cucase and due to the possibility of O to adsorb on the cluster region, which is not observed in the Cucase. The presented results will provide insights on future studies on supported cluster systems and their possible use as catalysts for CO-related reactions.