Dehydrogenation of benzene on Pt(111) surface

The dehydrogenation of benzene on Pt(111) surface is studied by ab initio density functional theory. The minimum energy pathways for benzene dehydrogenation are found with the nudge elastic band method including several factors of the associated barriers, reactive energies, intermediates, and transient states. The results show that there are two possible parallel minimum energy pathways on the Pt (111) surface. Moreover, the tilting angle of the H atom in benzene can be taken as an index for the actual barrier of dehydrogenation. In addition, the properties of dehydrogenation radicals on the Pt (111) surface are explored through their adsorption energy, adsorption geometry, and electronic structure on the surface. The vibrational frequencies of the dehydrogenation radicals derived from the calculations are in agreement with literature data. (C)2008 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.3001610]