The decomposition of methanol on Ru(001) studied using laser induced thermal desorption

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Abstract
The decomposition reaction of methanol on Ru(001) was studied using laser induced thermal desorption (LITD). The LITD studies, combined with temperature programmed desorption and Auger electron spectroscopy measurements, allowed absolute product yields for the three competing surface pathways to be determined over the entire range of chemisorbed methanol coverages at a heating rate of β=2.6 K/s. At the lowest methanol coverages of θ≤0.07θs, where θs is the surface coverage of a saturated chemisorbed layer, all the methanol reacted between 220–280 K. This methanol decomposition reaction yielded desorption‐limited H2 and CO as reaction products. At higher coverages, molecular desorption and the second methanol decomposition reaction involving C–O bond breakage became increasingly important. At θ=θs, 50% of the initial methanol coverage desorbed, 24% produced H2 and CO and 26% left C on the surface. Isothermal LITD kinetic measurements were carried out at low methanol coverages of θ≤0.07θs at various temperatures from 180 to 220 K. The initial decomposition rates obtained from the isothermal LITD studies displayed first order kinetics. The decomposition kinetics at later times could not be fit by first order kinetics and suggested a self‐poisoned reaction. Subsequent LITD studies revealed that CO inhibited the decomposition reaction. The product CO inhibition was modeled by first order kinetics with a CO‐coverage dependent activation barrier. The observed first order reaction kinetics at low methanol coverage could be expressed by the pre‐exponential ν=106 s−1 and the coverage‐dependent activation barrier E=7 kcal/mol+αθCO/θCO,s, where α=20 kcal/mol and θCO/θCO,s is the dimensionless CO coverage normalized to the CO saturation coverage θCO,s. Isotopic LITD studies revealed that the decomposition kinetics of CH3OH, CD3OH, and CH3OD were identical. This equivalence suggested that the hindered rotation of the surface methoxy species is the reaction coordinate for the rate‐limiting step in the decomposition reaction.