First-principles-based kinetic Monte Carlo simulation of nitric oxide decomposition over Pt and Rh surfaces under lean-burn conditions

First-principles-based kinetic Monte Carlo simulation was used to track the elementary surface transformations involved in the catalytic decomposition of NO over Pt(100) and Rh( 100) surfaces under lean-burn operating conditions. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were carried out to establish the structure and energetics for all reactants, intermediates and products over Pt( 100) and Rh( 100). Lateral interactions which arise from neighbouring adsorbates were calculated by examining changes in the binding energies as a function of coverage and different coadsorbed configurations. These data were fitted to a bond order conservation (BOC) model which is subsequently used to establish the effects of coverage within the simulation. The intrinsic activation barriers for all the elementary reaction steps in the proposed mechanism of NO reduction over Pt( 100) were calculated by using DFT. These values are corrected for coverage effects by using the parametrized BOC model internally within the simulation. This enables a site-explicit kinetic Monte Carlo simulation that can follow the kinetics of NO decomposition over Pt( 100) and Rh( 100) in the presence of excess oxygen. The simulations are used here to model various experimental protocols including temperature programmed desorption as well as batch catalytic kinetics. The simulation results for the temperature programmed desorption and decomposition of NO over Pt( 100) and Rh( 100) under vacuum condition were found to be in very good agreement with experimental results. NO decomposition is strongly tied to the temporal number of sites that remain vacant. Experimental results show that Pt is active in the catalytic reaction of NO into N-2 and NO2 under lean-burn conditions. The simulated reaction orders for NO and O-2 were found to be +0.9 and -0.4 at 723 K, respectively. The simulation also indicates that there is no activity over Rh( 100) since the surface becomes poisoned by oxygen.