Insight on the Interaction of Methanol-Selective Oxidation Intermediates with Au- or/and Pd-Containing Monometallic and Bimetallic Core@Shell Catalysts.

Using density functional theory (DFT), the interaction of crucial molecules involved in the selective partial oxidation of methanol to methyl formate (MF) with monometallic Au and Pd and bimetallic Au/Pd and Pd/Au core@shell catalysts is systematically investigated. The core@shell structures modeled in this study consist of Au(111) and Pd(111) cores covered by a monolayer of Pd and Au, respectively. Our results indicate that the adsorption strength of the molecules examined as a function of catalytic surface decreases in the order of Au/Pd(111) > Pd(111) > Au(111) > Pd/Au(111) and correlates well with the d-band center model. The preadsorption of oxygen is found to have a positive impact on the selective partial oxidation reaction because of the stabilization of CH3OH and HCHO on the catalyst surface and the simultaneous intensification of MF desorption. On the basis of a dynamical matrix approach combined with statistical thermodynamics, we propose a simple route for evaluating the Gibbs free energy of adsorption as a function of temperature. This method allows us to anticipate the relative temperature stability of molecules involved in the selective partial oxidation of methanol to MF in terms of catalytic surface.