QUANTIFICATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF SURFACE-STRUCTURE ON C-H BOND ACTIVATION BY IRIDIUM AND PLATINUM

The trapping-mediated dissociative chemisorption Of ethane on the closest packed Ir(111) surface has been investigated, and the activation energy and preexponential factor of the surface reaction rate coefficient have been measured. These results are compared to those of ethane activation on Pt(111) and on the missing row reconstructed Ir(110)-(1x2) and Pt(110)-(1x2) surfaces, allowing a quantitative determination of the effect surface structure has on the catalytic activation of C-H bonds. In the order Pt(111), Pt(110)-(1x2), Ir(111), and Ir(110)-(1x2), the activation energies for the dissociative chemisorption of ethane are 16.6, 10.5, 10.3, and 5.5 kilocalories per mole, demonstrating that the electronic and geometric effects are of approximately equal importance for ethane activation on these catalysts.