Adsorption and Decomposition of Ethanol on Cu2O(111) and (100)

Ethanol dehydrogenation on metal oxides such as Cu2O is an important reaction for the production of renewable energy by fuel cells both via the production of H-2 fuel and via application in direct alcohol fuel cells. To better understand this reaction, we studied the adsorption, dissociation, and desorption of ethanol on Cu2O(111) and (100) surfaces using high-resolution photoelectron spectroscopy, vibrational sum-frequency generation spectroscopy, and temperature-programmed desorption accompanied by density functional theory calculations. On Cu-2(100), the first layer consists primarily of dissociatively adsorbed ethoxy. Second and third layers of ethanol physisorb at low temperatures and desorb below 200 K. On the Cu2O(111) surface, adsorption is mixed as ethoxy, ethanol, and the products following C-C cleavage, CHx, and OCHx, are found in the first layer. Upon heating, products following both C-C and C-O bond breaking are observed on both surfaces and continued heating accentuates molecular cracking. C-O cleavage occurs more on the (100) surface, whereas on the Cu2O(111) surface, C-C cleavage dominates and occurs at lower temperatures than those for the (100) surface. The increased ability of Cu2O(111) to crack ethanol is explained by the varied surface structure including surface oxygen, electron-rich O vacancies, and Cu.