Surface Chemical Reaction of CO₂ Driven by Vibrational Energy

Abstract

Recently, we have revealed that the vibrational energy of CO₂ drives the hydrogenation reaction of CO₂ on Cu single crystal surfaces, Cu(111) and Cu(100), (CO₂＋H_a → HCOO_a, where ‘a’ denotes adsorbate) via Eley–Rideal-type mechanism. The finding of the reaction dynamics of CO₂ may provide deeper insights into the mechanism and kinetics of all the CO₂-related surface chemical reactions and a possible application in the ‘state-to-state chemistry’ of methanol synthesis. Here we review the experimental results obtained with supersonic molecular beam.