Abrupt increase in hydrogen diffusion on transition-metal surfaces during hydrogenation catalysis

Chem Sci. 2016 Jul 1;7(7):4660-4666. doi: 10.1039/c6sc01249c. Epub 2016 Apr 18.

Abstract

A sharp increase in the rate of hydrogen isotope scrambling was identified during the hydrogenation of olefins with H2 + D2 mixtures on Pt(111) catalysts, which spectroscopic data suggest is due to a sudden increase in atomic hydrogen surface mobility because of a decrease in the size of the islands of the adsorbed hydrocarbons.