Methanol decomposition on single crystal Cu2O

Laminar Cu2O growth on (111) Cu singlecrystal surfaces J. Vac. Sci. Technol. 15, 656 (1978); 10.1116/1.569658 Surface and Bulk Conductivities of Cu2O Single Crystals J. Appl. Phys. 41, 271 (1970); 10.1063/1.1658333 Redistribution subject to AVS license or copyright; see http://scitation.aip.org/termsconditions. Download to IP: 128.173.125.76 On: Fri, 09 May 2014 18:13:09 Methanol decomposition on single crystal Cu20 David F. Coxa) and Kirk H. Schulz Department o/Chemical Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061 (Received 1 September 1989; accepted 30 October 1989) CH3 0D decomposition has been studied over the stoichiometric, nonpolar (111) and polar, copper-terminated (100) surfaces ofCu2 O. Thermal desorption studies for monolayer coverages of methanol at 90 K show similar conversions, but the product distributions vary significantly, indicating a structure sensitive reaction. The (111) surface shows a maximum selectivity for complete oxidative dehydrogenation to CO, while the ( 100) surface shows a maximum selectivity for partial dehydrogenation to CH2 O. Thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) data are consistent with a decomposition pathway which proceeds through a methoxy intermediate for both surfaces. Possible origins for the structure sensitivity are discussed.